Dare to Believe
by xo-ally
Summary: When James steals Lily's embarrassing lacy black push-up bra at Platform 9 3/4, she'll do anything to get it back. To make it worse, they are paired up together for their Muggle Studies course. Can they learn to work together if they want to graduate?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N**- Hello everyone! So this is my first ever fanfic, and has been in the making for a longgg time!! Just today I decided to put it up. I already have about 7 chapters written, so I''ll post those up periodically and hopefully get this show on the road! :P Enjoy!

Disclaimer- I do not own anything!

**Chapter One- The Lacy Black Push-Up Bra**

The scarlet steam engine, better known as the Hogwarts Express, let out a shrill whistle, warning tardy students to get on board. Students were racing all about the platform through darting cats of every colour and disgruntled hooting owls. Quidditch captain and Head Boy James Potter, along with two of his best friends Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin sauntered towards the train as if they had all the time in the world. They were beginning their seventh and final year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and they were prepared to make it the best year yet. The three boys scanned the crowd, for their other close friend, Peter Pettigrew. After determining that he was nowhere in sight, James ruffled up his already messy black hair as girls swooned over him. He smiled at Sirius and Remus who both rolled their eyes.

"Why such the lady charmer Prongs?" Remus asked. "Given up on Lily?"

Prongs was the name James' friends had given him after they had illegally become Animagi in their third year of studies to help Remus who had a little problem. James had taken the form of a stag, big enough to fight off Remus if necessary. The boys had become Moony (Remus the werewolf), Wormtail (Peter the rat), Padfoot (Sirius the dog) and Prongs (James the stag), and had even created their own map they called The Marauders Map. It helped them avoid teachers when they were sneaking about—or out of— the castle.

Lily Evans was another story. Delicate, smart, beautiful Lily Evans. James had been crushing on her since day one when they met on the Hogwarts Express. She was one of the few dateable girls in the school who had turned James down. She was also the only girl he really wanted to go out with.

Sirius' unattractive snort interrupted James' thoughts. "Of course not Moony, James will not be swayed. He will be playing Prince Charming this year. The job description includes a lot of apologizing and groveling and pleading," he said happily.

James glared at his best friend, and decided it was time for a change of subject. Sirius was right after all, there was no way Lily Evans would forgive him for what he had done to her best friend Severus Snape, known to James and Sirius as Snivellus. James had turned him upside-down last year, and Lily had been in a right state trying to stick up for him. James supposed that Severus calling Lily a Muggle couldn't have helped their already deteriorating relationship, something which he observed with glee. He looked back to his friends and said, "Are you guys planning on taking that Extra Credit Muggle Studies Course this year?"

Both Remus and Sirius nodded.

"I believe it will be a good experience to—"Remus began, but Sirius cut him off.

"Whatever Moony, we get to miss two weeks of school for it!" Sirius pumped his fists in the air as several girls watched and blew kisses at him. This was not irregular for the boys; they were the most sought after bachelors in the school. If you could call it that. Sirius was a regular catch; he had long black hair which effortlessly fell into his mischievous grey eyes giving him a mysterious air. He winked back at the girls.

"I have to skip out on half the ride; I've got a meeting in the Head's Department." James said.

Sirius snickered. "You'll miss out on the beginning of the year prank oh your Great Headliness," he pointed out.

"There is no prank without the great James Potter!" James shot back. "So what's the big prank?"

Sirius grinned, "No worries, Prongsie. I have it all under control."

***

Lily smelled mischief before she saw it. The moment she looked up she knew what she would see. James Potter or Sirius Black. She was betting on James Potter who seemed to have difficulty leaving her alone. Quidditch team captain, possibly Head Boy (although she hoped not), and (in his words) a professional heartbreaker. With a disregard for any rule, magical or non-magical, he believed he owned the school, which Lily Evans hated to admit was probably true.

There wasn't one teacher who disliked him, and there wasn't one girl who wouldn't swoon at his feet for the chance to sate him. Except, maybe, for Lily. Lily had never fallen for the games James played with other girls, she thought herself too smart to get into that kind of situation. Anger boiled in Lily's stomach every time she thought about James Potter. He thought that just because he was popular, he could jinx anyone he pleased, at any time he wanted. What only made it worse was the fact that he had all the teachers wrapped around his stupid fingers, so he never got into trouble.

Almost as bad as him were his friends, also known as "The Marauders". The group included his best friend Sirius Black, who was equally arrogant and obnoxious. Sirius used his good looks and quick wit to trap the ladies. He was a beater on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and he had once told Lily that it was his mission to date as many girls as possible before the end of their seventh year.

Remus Lupin was another of James' friends, though it was past Lily to wonder what he was doing with this group. Remus was a hard-working friend of Lily's who was very tired looking and big-hearted. He had sandy brown hair and dull blue eyes. Remus was Lily's favourite of the group, and she secretly harboured feelings for him.

The last member of the Marauders was Peter Pettigrew. He had thin colourless hair and small watery eyes. He was a chubby boy who idolized every move James and Sirius made. Whenever Lily saw him he seemed elated to belong to such a group. Lily found him somewhat repulsive, but who was she to judge?

Lily scanned the platform for her two best friends Jade Bridger and Amber Hart. The girls had met on the Hogwarts Express their first year of Hogwarts and had been inseparable since. Jade had grown up in Godric's Hollow as James' next door neighbour, and it was surprising that she didn't turn out as bad as he did. Lily would call her the female equivalent of Sirius Black. Like Sirius, she had long black hair, but she had chocolate brown eyes. She easily made friends, and she dragged Lily and Amber to numerous wild parties. She was also a Chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and the only girl, which meant that she got to listen to, and join in on, the boys' locker room chats.

Amber was more like Lily in that she was quiet and studious. She had long blonde hair which curled delicately over her shoulders and innocent blue eyes. She had small features, and was a petit girl which Jade always teased her about. Jade could hold something over Amber's head and Amber would have to jump to reach it. Amber had recently been drawn in and dumped by James Potter, which gave Lily another reason among the obvious million to hate him.

As if he had heard her thinking about him, James turned around and unabashedly looked her up and down.

"Where did those come from?" he asked.

Lily looked to wear he was pointing at her chest. She blushed. "You are a foul boy," she answered, which only made him laugh.

"Looking good Evans," he called, as he sauntered off to join his friends. Lily saw him telling them something, and caught Sirius looking over James' shoulder at her. Lily sighed. So it was going to be another one of _those_ train rides.

Ever since she could remember, James and Sirius had in some way disrupted the train ride to Hogwarts. Lily had met them on their very first train ride to Hogwarts. She had been sitting in a compartment with them, and the first thing they had done was make fun of Severus who had been her best friend. The only good thing to come out of this was that she had met Jade through James. Lily had been angry with him, and vowed not to be friends with someone so arrogant and cruel. It was a difficult vow because Jade was very good friends with James, and Amber didn't mind them either.

Lily scowled and heaved her heavy trunk off the trolley. She couldn't remember packing so much, and the trunk was almost too heavy for her to lift. She almost had it when the clasps, who were straining to keep the trunk closed, split open, and her schoolbooks and garments were scattered across the platform. Lily's sneakascope rolled away and landed by the feet of some fifth year Slytherins. Her tin of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans exploded, and different flavours of beans rolled all over the platform. Her Chocolate Frog card collection went flying, cards spiralling in every direction, some smacking her schoolmates in the face. The most embarrassing part was her clothing. Underwear and nightgowns were strewn around her, and Lily began frantically gathering them up. She picked up the rest of her things mumbling, "Maybe if _Potter_ wasn't such a stupid prat..."

"Did I hear my name flower?" an arrogant voice asked from her side.

Lily looked up to see a tall, muscular black headed boy. Who else but James Potter? He stood there looking as arrogant as ever. He even had the nerve to ruffle his hair in what he thought was a sexy manner. He was wrong.

"What do you want Potter?" Lily asked acidly.

He didn't answer, just grinned at her. Lily was about to heave a pile of spell books back into her trunk when she saw what James was holding in his hand. Dangling from his pointer finger by one strap was the black lacy push up bra Jade had bought her for her "You're Sixteen Now!" party in their 5th year. Amber and Lily had been forced to wear red and black bras respectively. For some reason Jade thought it would be fun to party in them. She had even ordered Firewhisky and Butterbeer to make it a real party. Lily was surprised when it was fun, but she hadn't worn the bra since. She suspected Jade of wearing her forest green bra at least once a week.

"Give that to me now," Lily said through gritted teeth. She scanned the platform to see if anyone else had noticed what James was holding. No one seemed to be looking over at them, but Lily did see Sirius glancing over curiously.

"Hold on flower, I want something in return," James answered with a twinkle in his eye.

Whatever the condition, Lily was sure she wouldn't like it. She suddenly recalled a time when James had stolen Jade's homework, then forced her to eat a vomit flavoured Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Bean so she could get it back on time to hand it in. Lily shuddered at the thought. She was well aware that James would stop at nothing to get to her.

Cautiously she said, "what is it Potter?"

James grinned. "It's simple. Give me a kiss."

Lily stared at him horrified. Kiss _James Potter_? There was no way in hell she was going there. But then how else was she going to get her bra back? As she pondered James slipped the bra into his robes.

"I'll await your answer flower." He bowed and blew her a kiss.

"Wait, okay I'll do it!" Lily called after him.

He looked back at her, surprised. "On the lips, flower."

No way was Lily going to kiss James on the lips; she was thinking more a brush of her lips on his cheek, or better, his hand. _The nerve! _She thought as he spun around and walked away with a skip in his step. She unsuccessfully stared daggers at his back, but she was not an overly aggressive girl so this went unnoticed. He had the gall to turn around and wink at her.

As much as she wished she could, Lily was unable to use magic with this many witnesses. She would have to take the issue up with her friend Jade, who had known James since they were in diapers, if wizards even used those. Lily scanned the crowd for her friends' long shiny black hair and sparkling brown eyes, but to no avail. With a sigh and one last glare James' way, Lily boarded the train.

***

"He did what?" Jade asked after Lily told her what had happened.

"Took that stupid black lacy _push up _bra you bought me. Now he's going to think I'm some kind of sex fiend!" Lily cried.

Her friends nodded sympathetically. As they were calming her down, a folded up piece of paper flew into the room and landed on Lily's lap.

"Open it," she said handing Jade the note. "I'm not in the mood for whatever Potter has sent me. And how did he learn that sort of magic?"

Jade chuckled and opened the note. She unsuccessfully attempted to suppress a laugh.

"Merlin's beard!" she cried, handing the paper to Amber. Amber was less controlled than Jade, and she burst out laughing at the paper. Lily was getting quite frustrated, and by the time she registered what was on the piece of paper, tears of laughter were running down her friends' faces. Lily had to admit, if this had happened to someone else she probably would have found it more amusing. Instead she screamed "POTTER! I HATE YOU!"

Lily could have sworn she heard him laughing.

"I can't believe he...put your lacy black _push up_...bra on...Pettigrew!" Jade managed to get out in between laughs.

"It's not funny!" Lily cried, staring at the picture James had sent her. It depicted a happy and overweight Peter Pettigrew strolling around their compartment wearing Lily's lacy black bra. He seemed to be enjoying himself although he was being forced into wearing women's clothing. Women's clothing which quite possibly fit him better than it fit her.

"His cleavage is bigger than mine!" Amber cried.

Lily glared at her friend. "This is not the time for jokes," she said angrily.

"Oh Lily, don't worry about it. We'll get him back, I promise." Jade reassured her. "You forget that you have a friend who is very close to Mr. James Potter."

"What good is that going to do me?" Lily sulked.

"I know all his weaknesses and his faults," Jade answered. "Plus I am crowned the Prank Queen. Sirius said so after last summer…" Jade babbled on.

Lily brightened up. On the surface James had no weaknesses or faults. He was always perfectly made up, his hair ruffled so that it looked like he had just dismounted his broomstick. On the outside James was the perfect man, always happy, always joking. She was eager to hear about any fault he may have.

"Don't you have to go to the Head Girl's meeting Lily?" Amber asked, interrupting Jade's story, and Lily's reverie.

"Oh no! I'm going to be late, how good will that look to the prefects? I'm supposed to be setting an example..." Lily trailed off as she looked for her notebook.

"Relax Lily," Jade advised. "Breathe, we'll get him"

Lily nodded, not reassured at all, and headed towards the heads meeting.

If Lily thought her day couldn't get any worse, she was wrong. As she entered the Heads compartment, late of course, she saw James sitting in the Head Boy seat, hair perfectly tousled. Was all of wizard-kind conspiring against her? Here Lily Evans, let's see if you can take this! Lily walked up to her seat and hid behind a veil of red hair as she tried to compose her face.

"Sorry I'm late everyone," she began.

James grinned. "Not a problem flower, I'm sure there were important...issues to attend to," he answered as he gestured at her chest.

Lily looked at him angrily. "Anyway, let's start by introducing ourselves. Hi I'm Lily Evans, I am from Gryffindor, and I'm the new Head Girl."

"James Potter. Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, Head Boy, dazzlingly handsome."

The girl prefects giggled at this and looked at James reverently. Lily would bet any one of them would give him a kiss to get their stupid bra back. She rolled her eyes and listened to the others introduce themselves.

"So basically it is our job to ensure that nobody is sneaking about at night, so all we have to do is patrol the corridors. You will also be responsible for showing the first years to their dormitories and giving your house their passwords. Any questions?" Lily asked.

The prefects shook their heads.

"Alright then, all you have to do now is patrol the corridors and look for any suspicious behaviour," she said glaring at James, who had reclined back in his chair to the point where it was ready to tip. Lily nodded at the prefects as they exited the room and put her hand on the back of James' chair to get up. This caused his chair to tip completely over, and he landed sprawled on the floor.

"Oops, I'd like to say that I'm sorry, but I'm really not," Lily told him acidly as she exited the room.

***

The Great Hall was decorated marvelously for the new year at Hogwarts. Hundreds of lit candles floated overtop of four long tables where most of the student population was already sitting. The Marauders prided themselves on being late. They received more attention that way. They headed towards the Gryffindor table which had a gold and red banner above it depicting a ferocious lion. James looked up to the roof, which was bewitched to look like the sky outside. In the far north corner was a waxing moon, and rain clouds were beginning to accumulate together, marking the beginning of a storm.

James elbowed Remus. "Look at the moon Moony."

Remus nodded. "A few more nights until our first full moon escapade," he said quietly.

James smiled. Since their third year at Hogwarts, James, Sirius, and Peter had known that Remus was a werewolf. After several lies about his mother being sick and his grandmother dying about five times in the span of one year, James and Sirius had done some research. After figuring out what he was, they spent the rest of their third year trying to figure out how to become animals. They concocted a potion that would make them all Animagi so they could spend every full moon with Remus. Werewolves were dangerous around humans, but around other animals they weren't so bad. James had become a stag, and Sirius a large dog so they were able to keep Remus in check. Peter was a rat so he could easily push the knot on the Whomping Willow, a vicious tree which hit anything it could in its path. This had become a tradition with the boys and all four of them waited for the full moon every month.

James spotted Lily just in front of him, and whispered in her ear. "How was your summer flower?"

She whipped around. "Just lovely Potter. I didn't have to see your arrogant face for two whole months!"

James never faltered. "You missed me Evans." He said, draping his arm across her shoulders.

Lily shook off his arm and retorted. "Not at all Potter. In fact, you could have called the summer the most enjoyable time of my year. As you already know, I didn't have to look at your four eyes all summer long."

James opened his mouth to say something, but Professor Dumbledore stood up, so he closed it. After the sorting and Dumbledore's introduction, James elbowed Sirius and Remus to prepare them for what came next.

Every year the boys pulled a prank to introduce themselves to the school. The thing was, nobody knew that they called themselves the Marauders. This year was going to be the biggest prank of them all, followed by the unveiling of the Marauders, and of course, their annual food fight. This year, Severus Snape was the target, as he had been for the past 4 years when they had started this tradition.

Sirius kicked James under the table, and then waved his wand, and a huge serving of mashed potatoes flew into Lucius Malfoy's face. Once Malfoy realized his perfect blonde hair had been ruined, he scanned the Slytherin table to find the culprit. Normally, he would have been looking for Snape who had "started" the food fight the previous years, but Snape was floating in the air. He was holding his Slytherin robes and swinging them around his head like a lasso. James held his wand up and flicked it as Snape began to sing _I'm too sexy for my shirt_, and he took his shirt off, revealing a ghostly pale chest. _Too sexy for my pants_, and Snape took off his pants revealing holy gray boxer shorts. Laughter erupted in the Great Hall, most of it coming from the Gryffindor table. The Slytherins were wildly looking around, trying to avoid the food flying at them and trying to find the culprit simultaneously. _Too sexy it hurts_. Snape continued by licking his finger and trailing it down his body. The look on his face was of pure terror ad he belted out the rest of the song, stripping and teasing the crowd with his antics. James and Sirius were tearing up laughing as Snape came to the conclusion of his song, was dropped to the ground, and scrambled to get his clothing back on.

"Someone needs a tan," Sirius whispered as Remus shot a large M into the air, replaying images of Snape's performance in it.

Dumbledore quickly settled the hall down, as the food fight came to an end, and Snape returned to his seat. The Slytherins all looked away, not knowing what to say about the skinny white strip tease they had just seen. Snape kept his eyes down at the table, muttering to himself as he straightened his robes.

"Students, please sit down and enjoy the meal in front of you. We will find the culprits to this prank," he said eyeing James and Sirius, "immediately. In the meantime, please do not hesitate to fill your plates and continue catching up with one another."

James snickered, and loaded his plate with food. He then sat back and viewed his work playing over and over in the giant M. He smiled; he was ready for the best year of his life.

***

Lily woke up the next day to rain thundering on the window. The castle had become cold in the night, and she shivered as goose bumps rippled up her skin. _Exactly the way I feel_, Lily thought as she looked out to the gray sky. Lily had chosen the bed by the window because she liked watching the moon as she went to sleep. Sometimes she thought her sister, Petunia was looking at the same moon and wondering, maybe if things had been different, if they would still be friends. Lily sighed and poured herself a cup of water from the water cooler. This cleared up her head, and she finally realized what time it was. Much too early to go anywhere or do anything. 5:00 in the morning to be exact. Lily sighed, and grabbed her _Guide to Advanced Transfiguration_ textbook. She was determined to beat James Potter in Transfiguration this year no matter what. Wrapping herself in her quilt, she descended the stairs into the Common Room.

What she found there did not make her happy. James was sprawled out on the couch beside a huge fire he had built. He was doodling idly in his Charms textbook which was on his lap. One long leg rested on the table in the center of the area, the other was resting on the top of the couch. He looked almost innocent sitting there studying Charms, the one class Lily always beat him in. He looked up as he heard her come down the stairs.

"Couldn't sleep?" he asked her civilly.

Lily scowled. As if she was going to speak to him after what he had done. She would have taken a chair on the far side on the room, but she was freezing and James had built quite a nice fire. She settled for the chair across from him.

"Catching up on some studying?" James asked conversationally.

Lily ignored him and curled up in the comfy chair, cracking open her book to the first chapter of her Transfiguration book. There was an odd sort of electricity between her and James as they sat there together. She found it difficult to concentrate on the words she was reading. She forced herself to ignore the odd feeling she was beginning to feel. She looked up from her book. James was glancing at her curiously, as if he could feel it too. Lily wanted to glare at him, but found she couldn't. She finally gave up, and slammed her textbook shut.

"Interesting," James marvelled.

Lily ignored him. No way was she going to talk to him about what had just happened.

"Are you going to talk to me at all?" James asked, almost vulnerably.

"Not until I get my bra back," Lily answered angrily.

James chuckled, back to his normal self, and flashed a grin at Lily. After a few more minutes of electrical silence, he announced, "I'm off to breakfast"

"There won't be any food there yet," Lily said, checking her watch. It was 6:30. That hour and a half had gone by surprisingly fast.

"I have my ways," he answered over his shoulder as he opened the portrait door.

Lily nodded and said "Of course you do."

James closed the door on her bewildered face and left her staring into the fire in peace. Lily tried to make herself excited to begin school, which was not usually a difficult task, but to no avail. She did not want to think about what had happened between James and herself. What was the strange electricity between them? Why was there anything between them at all? There shouldn't be, she loathed him. After everything he had done to Severus and herself, that prank he had pulled yesterday! She felt terribly for Severus, but after the year before by the lake…needless to say they had drifted. He had called her a "Mudblood" which meant she had two Muggle parents. It was an extremely dirty word, equivalent to the worst swear word in the Muggle world. Severus had become friends with the Slytherins, and had turned to the Dark Arts. Lily hated to think of it. She knew there was nothing she could have done to prevent it, but she still felt partially responsible. Lily put it into the back of her mind. She would just have to forget about it.

Aggravated, Lily headed upstairs to use up all the hot water in the shower.

***

Breakfast that morning was as uneventful as watching Flobberworms grow. This may have had something to do with the fact that James had eaten so early. Most of the breakfast entertainment at the Gryffindor table was provided by Sirius and James, both of whom were conspicuously missing. Lily stirred her tea absentmindedly until Professor McGonagall began to hand out timetables.

"Yes! I got into the extra-curricular Muggle Studies course!" Lily exclaimed to Jade and Amber.

"Same here," they both answered happily.

"Pity we don't get to start today," Lily said, seeing that they had Muggle Studies first thing the next day. "I have so many good ideas."

Amber and Jade snorted, and the girls headed up to their first class, Transfiguration.

No matter how much Lily had read on human transfiguration that morning, it was much harder than it seemed. It didn't help much that James had created a sort of choir of monkeys with Sirius Remus and Peter.

James, mistaking Lily's staring for interest, called "Howler monkeys!"

They certainly were. The monkeys were howling a tune which sounded like a chorus of hyenas. Lily found it extremely difficult to concentrate on the spell. She put as much force into the spell as she could. The only change was a bit of fur sprouting on Jade's arms.

"Pretty," Amber remarked.

"Let's see you try!" Lily answered.

Amber nodded. "Okay," she answered, and performed the spell perfectly.

Jade had turned into a black monkey. She looked at her arms, twirled her tail in her hands, then with a sort of apologetic look, she quickly ran to join in James' band of howler monkeys. She grabbed and identical black money who must have been Sirius and the two did a little jig. Lily turned to Amber. "Show-off" she muttered.

"Just relax Lily, you'll get it," Amber answered her.

Lily sighed and opened her book to see if a little more reading might help. A folded piece of parchment slipped out of the book. She picked it up curiously and called Amber over to see.

"What do you think it is?" Amber asked.

Lily shrugged. "I don't know but it wasn't here this morning or at the beginning of class."

She tentatively unfolded the parchment. Printed on it was a sketch of Lily in her skimpy black bra. Lily looked up, her mouth open into a wide O of horror.

"Flip it over, there's words on the other side," Amber whispered.

Lily flipped the paper over. Scrawled in messy print was:

_There's more where this came from._

_Courtesy of Sirius Black, Gryffindor Beater and Professional Heartbreaker._

Lily glanced towards James' group who were all newly transfigured into humans. Sirius was watching her, his dark hair falling casually into his grey eyes. Lily noticed half of the female population in the classroom was glaring at her. Like it was her fault they had thought her bra was sexy. Jade saw what he was looking at and whispered something to the group. James and Sirius raised their eyebrows and looked over at Lily again. Jade laughed, then sauntered back over to join Lily and Amber.

"What did you say?" Lily asked.

"I told them there was more where _that_ came from," Jade answered unabashedly, gesturing at the sketch of Lily's bra.

"What?" Lily asked quietly. "Why would you do that?"

"James likes the chase," Jade said simply as the class ended, and the Gryffindors headed to Charms.

Lily instantly felt better once she entered the Charms classroom. She was now in her element. Charms was probably her best subject, next to Potions. Sadly, James was in all these classes with her because they both wanted to become Aurors with the ministry. The wizarding world was becoming more dangerous as Lily continued to hear rumours about a dark wizard rising and gathering followers.

Lily stopped thinking about that and focused on Professor Flitwick. They were performing Disillusionment Charms that day, which Lily had already tried that summer. She had no problem performing the Charm on the first try, and was rewarded with an excited squeak from professor Flitwick.

"Excellent Ms. Evans! Twenty points to Gryffindor!"

Lily beamed. _Take that James Potter!_ She thought, glancing over. She was satisfied that he hadn't been able to perform the spell yet. His face was screwed up in concentration, and Lily could see Sirius chuckling at him.

"You look like you're constipated mate," Sirius joked.

James scowled. "You do it then!"

Sirius performed the spell with minor errors. "At least I can partially do it without looking like my bowels have been blocked."

"Whatever Padfoot," James said, and changed him into a monkey.

Sirius shrieked angrily, and several girls went to comfort the poor monkey. James stared at his friend in disbelief. Even as a monkey he could get the girls. James sighed and turned him back. Sirius was lounging in the arms of a seventh year Hufflepuff, whose names James thought was Lexi. He rolled his eyes and turned back to Remus.

"Full moon in three days eh Moony?" he asked excitedly.

Remus nodded. "Keep it down, will you James?" he asked gesturing at Lily, who was looking over curiously. James winked at her, which caused her to scowl and look away.

"You know James, I think you've got her," Remus joked.

"I will have her Remus. How many times must I tell you that I am going to marry Ms. Evans?" James inquired.

"At least once more," Remus sighed. "I'll believe it when I see it."

James smiled. He was sure there had been something between them that morning where they both sat studying.

"Well I've got about twelve dates this week," Sirius announced as he rejoined his friends.

Remus shook his head. "You two," he grinned.

Sirius looked at him in mock anger. "It's you, dearest Moony, who is friends with us. Need I remind you?"

Remus chuckled. "It's true. Someone needs to keep you guys in check. We probably would have been caught doing half the things we do without me."

"We wouldn't do half the things we do without that brain of yours Moony," Sirius said, knocking on Remus' head.

"True," Remus allowed.

James grinned. Who could ask for a better set of friends? James took one last glance at Lily before throwing himself into the planning of the next full moon. He would decide what to do about that weird electricity later.


	2. Chapter 2 Muggle Studies

**Chapter 2- Muggle Studies**

The next morning, Lily had no trouble getting excited for school. She had slept soundly the night before, and they were beginning their extra-curricular Muggle Studies course that morning. There was a sense of excitement in the air as they sat down to breakfast. Lily thought about how excited she was to study Muggles from a wizarding point of view. Judging from the brochure she had received over the summer, they were taking a trip to Italy and Canada. Although Lily knew quite a bit about Muggles (her parents were Muggles), she had never been out of England, so this trip would be educational to her as well.

The course had been offered to the Seventh Year students which excelled in school. Other seventh years had a break the first period of the day. Lily didn't mind. She liked school, and was very excited to get started. She ate her bacon and eggs very quickly, in a rush to get a good seat in the classroom. Amber shared her excitement, and the two girls left Jade with James as they hurried upstairs to the classroom. Professor Clement was waiting at the front of the room, sitting in a rickety old desk.

"Good morning ladies," she said amiably.

"Good day professor," Lily answered, dropping her bag beside a table in the front row. The classroom slowly filled up with the high achievers of Hogwarts. Lily saw Jade enter the room with James, Sirius and Remus. There were a few Huffelpuffs she recognized, and many Ravenclaws. She wasn't surprised, Rowena Ravenclaw, one of the four founders of Hogwarts, had wanted the smartest witches and wizards in her house. From Gryffindor Lily only recognized Amber, Jade, James, Sirius, and Remus. She supposed Peter wasn't smart enough to be in the class. The other two girls Lily, Jade and Amber shared the girls' dorms with were by no means overachievers. If Lily were in a Muggle school she would have labelled them druggies. Lily recognized fewer Slytherins than Hufflepuffs, which made her happy because she really did not get along with Slytherins.

Once Professor Clement had settled down the class, she handed out a timetable.

"This is what we will be doing during the two weeks we spend in the Muggle world," she explained.

Lily studied the schedule which looked like this:

_**Two Weeks in Muggle Land**_

_The first four days of our trip will be spent in Italy. The next five will be spent in Canada. The last five will be spent in London. We will be learning about the use of electricity, how to drive Muggle cars (a test will be taken) and how to live without Magic._

**Sunday 5 February  
**_Settle in the hotel in Florence. Learn how to use electricity (Television, telephone, radio etc…). Spend the day with partners._

**Monday 6 February  
**_Go see the Piazza Della Sigoria. Sightsee and learn how to use a camera with partners._

**Tuesday 7 February  
**_Shopping with your partner. Learn how to use Muggle currency. _

**Wednesday 8 February  
**_Drive to Rome,(this will include a driving lesson) see the Coliseum, and catch an overnight plane ride to Canada._

**Thursday 9 February  
**_Settle in the hotel in Edmonton, Alberta. Free day!_

**Friday 10 February  
**_Find something monumental to write about, and report on it. 1 roll of parchment please. Night flight to Vancouver._

**Saturday 11 February  
**_Settle in hotel, go to Muggle church, and pick a monument to write about. ½ roll of parchment. Go to Princess Island._

**Sunday 12 February  
**_Early morning flight to Toronto. Settle in hotels. Free day!_

**Monday 13 February  
**_Last day in Canada. Take a bus to Ottawa (Muggle money) and tour the parliament buildings. Night flight back to London._

**Tuesday 14 February  
**_Drive to Bath. This is where your driving test will be taken. Stay in a bed and breakfast. Shop around, spend day with your partners._

**Wednesday 15 February  
**_Tour the Baths. Write a 6-inch essay with your partner on the origin._

**Thursday 16 February  
**_Take a trip to the old folks home. Help make dinner—no magic! Spend the day with your partner sightseeing and taking pictures._

**Friday 17 February  
**_Go to London, stay overnight in a hotel. Go see the Queens palace. Take pictures. Watch the Changing of the Guards. Buy a scrapbook and put all your pictures together, labelled neatly and buy a few postcards to put in._

**Saturday 18 February  
**_Last day! Shop around a little bit, take a couple more pictures._

**Sunday 19 February  
**_Return to Hogwarts early._

_Students will get Monday the 20__th__ off to finish their project. Do not forget to write in your diaries please! Do not forget to buy postcards and make your scrapbook. We will be studying Muggle clothing for a while, and we will be going shopping before the trip so we are prepared with Muggle clothing. All assignments will be handed in Wednesday 22 February. Please be prepared. _

_Thank you_

_Professor Clement_

Lily read the itinerary. There was a lot of time spent with a partner. She hoped she would be partners with Amber. It was normally like that, you were partnered up with whoever you were sitting beside. Lily crossed her fingers.

"I will now read out your partners for the project. There will be no switching partners at all. This is based on experience in the Muggle world. I have partnered those who have had some experience with those who have had little to none. Please listen for your name and the name of your partner."

Lily panicked. Amber's mother was a Muggle! She prayed she would be partnered with Jade, who was pureblood as far back as family trees went.

"Bertram Aubrey and Dorcas Meadowes." Professor Burbage called.

The professor continued down the list as Lily turned to Amber. "I hope I get a good partner," she whispered.

"Me too. I hope I get you!" Amber replied quietly.

Lily was ready to reply when she heard her name.

"Lily Evans and James Potter," Professor Burbage announced.

Lily looked at Amber in horror. "What? No!" she said a little louder than it should have been. The professor stopped reading down the list and glanced at Lily.

"Something wrong Ms. Evans?" she asked.

"No Professor," Lily answered, hanging her head. She fought back the hot tears which were threatening to pour out of her eyes.

Amber looked at her sympathetically. "It'll be okay Lily, I'm sure of it," she said without any conviction.

The professor called Jade's name. "Jade Bridger and Sirius Black."

Lily caught Jade smirking. She was outraged. What was the coincidence that she would be with James and that Jade would be with Sirius? Jade didn't seem to mind much. She and Sirius could have been twins.

"Something weird is going on here," Amber said to Lily as she was partnered with Remus.

"Lucky," Lily mumbled as she moved to sit with James.

Amber smiled sympathetically. "Sorry Lily. There's not much we can do about it though.

_Easy for her to say_ Lily thought as she went to sit by James. She saw Sirius wink at Jade and make space for her on his chair. Jade seemed to consider sitting there, then caught the glares of some surrounding Hufflepuff girls and decided against it. How come Lily was the only one opposed to being friends with the Marauders? Jade seemed to get along with them quite nicely, but then again she was friends with everyone.

"Good morning flower!" James sung once Lily joined him at his table.

Lily grunted in return.

"I'm thinking a huge collage for our final project. Pictures flashing in and out, we'll charm them of course. You can do that part because you're much better than I am at Charms," James began.

Lily was stunned. Had he just given her a compliment?

"We'll have captions along with each one explaining what sort of Muggle contraption we were using at that time and place. Then separately, we can write up a report on all that we've learned about the Muggles when we were there."

Lily stared in shock. "You...you have it all planned out?" she asked.

"Of course. I'm not beating you in half of our classes because I'm stupid," he told her. "I'm just lazy." He said, and as if to prove it, he leaned back onto the two back legs of his chair.

"Don't forget what happened last time you did that," Lily remarked.

James nodded. "Of course not flower. I wouldn't want to _accidentally_ topple over again." He righted the chair. "So what do you think?"

Lily pretended to be thinking long and hard. It was a brilliant idea, and she couldn't exactly come up with a better one herself. She snuck a glance at James who seemed to be waiting on the edge of his seat for her praise. She found herself thinking about how his attitude towards her had changed over the past couple of months. Was it only last year where she had defended Severus Snape by the lake? James seemed less arrogant now, but the image still resonated with Lily. Finally she said, "I guess it'll do."

A wide smile broke out on James' face. "Let's get started then flower," he said, and launched into more planning.

It was the next morning when Lily realized that her thoughts of James the day before had been faulty. James Potter hadn't grown up at all. Instead, he had turned her hair a violent shade of purple. And she still didn't have her bra back. And Jade and Amber had yellow and blue hair respectively.

"It doesn't look _that_ bad," Jade said trying to lighten the mood. She had pulled her canary yellow hair into a ponytail.

Amber's hair was a light blue colour, and she had pulled it half up with a blue butterfly clip as if to accentuate it. "Make the best of it Lily," she said. "That way they won't get a reaction out of us, and maybe they'll stop."

Lily brushed her long purple hair, and braided it into two braids. At least she wasn't stuck with robes that said _Sirius Black is sexy_ all over them. Poor Jade. Lily's robes had been adorned with pink and red kisses, but no words thank Merlin.

Lily took a deep breath. "Ready?" she asked. Jade and Amber nodded.

The three girls entered the Great Hall with their heads held high. The heard whispers and snickers around them, but they just kept on walking and talking like nothing was out of the ordinary.

"That is a lovely shade of mauve Lily," Sirius called.

"I would call it lavender," Remus said.

"It is clearly lilac," James said the loudest.

"Thanks, I wanted to try something new," Lily forced herself to say without giving away any other emotion on her face.

"I think Jade's dazzlingly yellow locks look quite becoming," Sirius said, licking his lips.

"Doesn't it though?" Jade replied, playing with her ponytail.

"I like your blue hair Amber," Remus said quietly.

"Thanks," Amber replied, not sure if she should be thankful or angry.

"I tried to choose the least crazy colour for you," he whispered. "Blue matches your eyes."

Amber smiled. She thought that a good colour would have been brown maybe, but not blue. "Thanks Remus," she said.

He beamed.

"I would agree that yellow is becoming on me," Jade said loudly while looking in her mirror.

"Yes my gem, it's just like you. All sunny and such," Sirius called.

Lily stifled a giggle.

Jade frowned. "Do not call me gem," she said, then turned back to chat with Lily.

"That didn't turn out quite the way I thought it would," James whispered to Sirius.

"Correct Prongsie, we're going to have to take it to the next level," Sirius said roguishly.

Lily became worried as her two friends began enjoying the company of their partners. Jade and Sirius had been spending time outside of classes together, and Amber and Remus had a shy relationship. Which always left Lily with James. She still hadn't forgiven him for turning her hair purple, or for stealing her bra which she had yet to get back. She couldn't deny that having James as a partner was rarely boring or special. He always finished his half of the workload, and always kept a smiling face. Still, that didn't mean she had to like him. She could _tolerate_ him. That was all.

Lily had received several sketches of her bra, courtesy of Sirius. She had also been the recipient of photos of her bra on Peter. She decided that he could keep it if he liked it so much, she wasn't going to wear it. She was positive that James was the ringleader of it all.

"Should we take some time tonight to work on our Muggle currency issues?" James asked her, waving a hand in front of her face. "I still can't get it."

Lily started. She didn't want to admit it, but she was having a small amount of trouble herself. Not only did they need to know pounds, they also had to know the Italian lira and the Canadian dollar.

"Okay," she answered slowly. What if he was up to something? "That sounds good. I have a meeting until about 8 so I'll be missing dinner," she finished.

"Ooh, the Slug Club?" James asked.

Lily nodded. The Slug Club was started by her Potions professor, Horace Slughorn, "to honour elite students who have powerful parents or could one day be influential" in his words. Slughorn had, for some reason, singled Lily out, whether it was because of her Potion making, or her ability to master any charm. Lily did not know whether she should be proud or embarrassed to be in the Slug Club, nonetheless, Professor Slughorn adored her so she went to his functions.

"I've got Quidditch till 8 as well so shall we meet up in the Common Room after? I'll bring dinner." James offered.

"That sounds lovely," Lily answered truthfully. The food at Slughorn's parties was foreign, and Lily wasn't convinced that it was safe to eat. How James was going to get dinner was past her, but it didn't matter to her as long as she got to eat. She threw herself back into her work and tried to ignore the sparks in between them.

Later that night, Lily sat up in the Common Room waiting for James' Quidditch practice to finish. She assumed it had gone on late because she hadn't seen Jade yet either. Lily had examples of Italian lira, British pounds, and Canadian dollars spread out in front of her. She was trying to memorize the colours for each bill when the Quidditch team walked in soaked to the bone. Mud was dripping from their robes, and Jade and James seemed to be in some sort of argument.

"...Freezing outside, and we can't even see!" Jade exclaimed.

"If we want to beat Slytherin we've got to practice hard," James explained to her.

"Well I'm not coming again if it's like _that_ outside," Jade shivered.

Lily looked out the window. Rain was pouring down hard on the grounds, and there seemed to be more puddles than actual ground. She hadn't even noticed the weather. Storm clouds blocked out the moon so that the grounds were shrouded in darkness. The Forbidden Forest looked sinister, as distorted shadows moved around the perimeter. Lily wondered how Jade and James had even seen the hoops on the Quidditch pitch, let alone the Snitch. Lily watched the raindrops drip down the window like tears, then turned to face James.

"And Sirius hit a damn Bludger at me! You're supposed to hit it away from me you prat!" Jade said amiably.

"Sorry my lovely gem. It was a little difficult to _see_ out there," he said glaring at James.

"I'm just going to clean up, and then we can get started," James told Lily, and quickly escaped his angry team.

Lily nodded in response. She listened to Jade and Sirius complain a bit longer, then looked out the window. She watched the rain slide down the window like tears before tearing her eyes away. She always wondered if Petunia was looking out the window in her room. Could she see the same stars that Lily could? Was the rain battering against her window? Was she staring at the moon? Lily sighed. She had tried so hard to be what her sister wanted, but she couldn't deny who she was. She was a witch, and if Petunia couldn't accept her, it would just have to be that way. She was startled when James sat across from her. He looked at the money, and made a face.

Lily was glad to study more with him, but was not happy about the sparks. What could they mean anyway? Probably that she hated him. It was probably the negative electricity between them.

"There's numbers on them, we'll be fine." He told her.

"I suppose, but I would still like to know it better," she replied, ignoring the stupid sparks.

"What would you say to a little adventure?" James asked mischievously, changing the subject, and Lily was sure he felt them too.

"It depends," Lily answered cautiously.

"Oh come on, live a little."

James took her hand and led her out the portrait door. They took the route to the Entrance Hall, but instead of going into the Great Hall where they would normally go to eat, they took a door to the right of the main staircase.

"Where are you taking me James?" Lily asked, though she felt completely safe.

"You'll see!" James whispered excitedly. They rushed down the corridor, and then James paused at a portrait of a bowl of fruit.

"What's that supposed to be?" Lily inquired.

"Wait and see." James announced, and then tickled the pear in the bowl of fruit. The pear giggled, and suddenly became a door handle which James pulled to reveal the kitchens. They reminded Lily of the Great Hall. There were four long tables set up in the exact spots the house tables would be set up in the Great Hall. The ceilings were very high, and a fire crackled merrily in the brick fireplace at the opposite end. Mounds of brass pots were hanging on the walls, or heaped at their bases. The oddest thing about the room was that close to 100 house elves were running around carrying pots of all sorts.

"Master Potter!" One of the elves shrieked, and bowed to James.

Lily looked up at him. She hadn't realized how tall he was. "What..." she trailed off.

James smiled. "These are the kitchens; we come down here a lot for midnight snacks. Boys are always hungry," he explained.

"Wow." Lily had to admit, they were very cool. The elves had large bat-like ears and wide innocent eyes. Lily couldn't help but fall in love with them. The one that bowed to James wore a dirty patched pillowcase, and others were dressed in tea cosies and towels.

"What can we get for you and the lovely lady?" the elf squeaked.

"The usual," James answered. "Thanks Boopie."

"Boopie?" Lily asked.

"It's his name. At least I think it's a he." James replied. "That one over there has a crush on Sirius," James laughed.

Lily looked over at the house-elf. She was wearing a dirty stained tea cozy and had enormous blue eyes. "I never knew about this," Lily whispered.

"Not many people do. We reckon we're the only ones in the castle right now who know about it. These little guys tend the fires; do the laundry, lights the lamps, and who knows what else." James told her.

Lily was speechless. The elves ushered her and James to a table and set plates of food in front of them. There was bacon and steak, beef casserole, lamb chops, roast chicken, shepherd's pie, steak and kidney pie, Yorkshire pudding, and fried sausages. That was only the main dishes. Chips, peas, mashed potatoes, roast potatoes, sprouts, and fried tomatoes were also part of the layout. For desert they had apple pie, chocolate éclairs, custard tart, rice pudding, treacle tart (Lily's favourite), and Christmas cake, which James must have had especially made. Goblets full of butterbeer, orange juice, pumpkin juice, red currant rum, tea, and hot chocolate dotted the table while the little elves brought more plates.

"This is the usual?" Lily asked, amazed.

"Well normally it's me, Sirius, Remus and Peter. Peter eats his own weight in food, and since Sirius and I both play Quidditch we're always starving, and Remus is...always hungry" James finished lamely.

Lily tried to take it all in. "So how long have you known about this?" she asked.

"Second year," he answered.

"How..?" Lily began.

"It's a long story," James responded. "Maybe I'll tell you it someday."

Lily nodded. "I think I would like that," she agreed settling in to her meal. Was her guard slipping once more, or would she allow herself to believe that James Potter was not as bad as she had always believed?

_Because this story takes place in the 70's (according to the Harry Potter Lexicon), I am using the lira instead of the euro. I hope that makes sense. If you're curious, I have attached photos of lira, pounds, and dollars. The Canadian dollars are the new ones because I can't find pictures of the old ones, but you can get the idea. _


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three- Beards and Break-ins**

For the second time in the first two weeks of school, James had proven Lily wrong. It was impossible for him to change, he was just too immature. Lily stared at herself in the mirror wondering how she could go from eating a lovely dinner with him in the kitchens to being unable to see her face because of the large bushy beard growing on it. Thick, bushy, black hair covered most of her face, the only distinguishing features being her almond shaped green eyes. She couldn't believe that he had done this to her. She heard Jade scream from the dorms.

"They shaved Snowball!" She cried.

Lily ran out to join her and Amber who were staring at the shaved Persian cat whose once long snow white hair was all over Jade's face. Jade was sporting a long white beard which reached down to her waist. Lily automatically thought of Professor Dumbledore and his long white beard.

Amber had grown a bushy red beard and moustache which Lily was sure she had seen on the Chocolate Frog card of Godric Gryffindor.

Lily turned her attention to the cat. The poor thing was shivering on Jade's bed, looking at her as if she was wondering where her owner was. Lily began to panic. Where did they get the black hair from? Whose animal had coarse black hair?

"_Diffindo!" _she muttered pointing her wand at her beard to cut some off. It was unyielding. "Perfect, just perfect," she moaned. "Looks like we need to make a trip up to the hospital wing," she told her friends, who were still staring at poor Snowball.

Lily found a cloak for each of them, and the girls tucked their beards inside so no one would see them. Pulling the hoods up to hide their faces, they made their way down to the Common Room and out the portrait of the Fat Lady. They hurried along, earning many frightened and bewildered looks, until they reached the Hospital Wing. Madame Pomfrey was instantly by their sides, babbling on about getting them in bed and settled.

"What happened? How could this have happened?" she muttered to herself as she made up beds for them. "Just lay down girls, I'll be right back with something."

The girls each settled into their beds.

"Even I think this pranking business is getting old," Jade told them, as she settled in her bed.

Lily agreed. She was Head Girl. She couldn't go walking around with a beard or purple hair. She just couldn't understand why James kept doing these things. They were seventeen for Merlin's sake. When was he going to grow up and realize that his stupid pranks were immature?

Lily looked up as Madame Pomfrey shuffled over holding a bottle filled with an acid green paste. "This should do it," she told them. "Make sure not to get it on your hair or else that will disappear as well." She warned.

Lily nodded, and took the bottle. Madame Pomfrey placed a mirror on the table beside her, and Lily spread the paste along the beard. It was gritty, and then she felt a curious sensation, like someone was brushing her cheek. She watched as the black hair fell off her face in great clumps. Her face was back to normal without a trace of black beard. She smiled and handed the paste to Jade who began applying it right away.

Once all three girls had applied the paste, they thanked Madame Pomfrey and headed to the Great Hall for lunch. They had missed all their morning classes that day, which worried Lily because it had been Transfiguration. She made a mental note to ask Remus what they had done that day.

When they arrived in the Great Hall there was no sign of James or Sirius. _Probably off somewhere wreaking havoc_ Lily thought to herself. She caught sight of Remus, and spent the rest of her lunch hour listening attentively to him as he recounted the Transfiguration lesson.

***

Lily was on her way back from the library when she heard voices around the corner. She stopped, expecting some Slytherins hanging around, but what she saw when she peeked around the corner almost stopped her heart. Sirius was pulling Jade into a broom closet, whispering in her ear and she was giggling! Lily was appalled at the sight. Jade laughed loudly, and ran her hands through Sirius' hair. Lily wanted to close her eyes but couldn't. She couldn't believe Sirius and Jade were doing whatever they were doing and Jade had never told her! The three girls shared everything together. Lily was about to walk away when a loud 'meow' came from around the corner and Sirius and Jade jumped away from each other.

Mrs. Norris sauntered around the corner, her tail held high. She glared at Sirius and Jade, then went to fetch her master, the caretaker Filch.

"Quick, over here," Sirius whispered, and the two disappeared.

Lily stared incredulously at the space Jade and Sirius had just disappeared from. She was about to go investigate when she heard Mrs. Norris meow again, and she took off down the next hallway. Once she reached the common room, Lily hurried up to the girls dormitories hoping to find Amber. Her friend was sitting on her bed reading her Transfiguration textbook.

"You are never going to guess what just happened!" Lily squealed as she entered the room.

Amber looked up. "Tell me everything." She said putting a serious face on.

"Oh stop being silly Amber. I just saw Jade and Sirius snogging in the hallway!"

Amber was speechless. "What? I thought... but that doesn't even make sense...I mean." She stared at Lily lost for words.

"I know, they were about to go into a broom closet when Mrs. Norris came around the corner, then they just disappeared into thin air," Lily recounted the story to her friend.

"And you are positive it was Jade?" Amber asked suspiciously.

"Yes, Merlin's beard! I swear it."

Amber was cut off by Jade banging open the door to their room. "What's the gossip ladies?" she demanded, plopping herself down on Amber's bed.

"Oh nothing out of the ordinary," Amber said, flipping through her textbook.

"Right. Lily's got that look on her face," Jade said, eyeing Lily who had put on an unconvincing mask of innocence.

"Oh, come on Lily! You have got to be the worst liar I have ever met and you didn't even speak!" Amber lamented

"Well I'm sorry okay?" Lily said angrily and stomped off to her bed.

"So Lily, are you going to tell me about it?" Jade demanded.

"Well, you see...when I was...I don't really know how to put this..." Lily began, looking at Amber for help.

"Lily saw Dorcas Meadowes and Severus Snape snogging," Amber lied.

"What! I never thought Dorcas would stoop so low, no offense Lily." Jade cried.

Lily nodded. She and Severus had been best friends since last year by the lake. Lily hated thinking about it.

"So Jade, who gave you that mark on your neck?" Amber asked innocently.

"What? What mark? There is no mark!" Jade cried, running to the bathroom. "Merlin there is!" Amber and Lily heard her yell. "I am a bit embarrassed now!"

Lily laughed. Jade had always been the kind of girl to snog boys then drop them. Much like Sirius, which is probably why they were together.

"Enough of this talk," Jade said coming out of the bathroom. "We need to plan my birthday!"

Lily laughed. Every year since they had met Jade, she had insisted on planning a crazy birthday escapade to celebrate. Their first year had been a dress-up party; second year was a tea party; third year was a pool party; fourth year was the first time they snuck to Hogsmeade; fifth year they had taken a trip over to Jade's house for a party; and least year Jade had forced Lily and Amber into very tight and very bright clothing which they were to wear to her 'tight and bright' party. Needless to say, that one would be hard to top. Lily recalled little of that night, but the headache she had acquired the day after had not been pretty.

"So what are the plans for this year?" Amber asked.

"Karaoke?" Jade suggested.

"That may be a good idea, but he Marauders would probably just ruin it," Lily said.

"Yes, very true. We could incorporate something else in, with broomsticks maybe?"

"And just how would we go about doing that?" Lily laughed.

"Well I don't know Lily. I like karaoke!"

"Why don't we do karaoke at the Three Broomsticks?" Lily suggested.

"No! We are going to do a masquerade!" Jade exclaimed. "It'll be perfect! We won't have to waltz of course, just dress nicely with a mask! It's ingenious!"

Lily had to admit, it was quite a good idea. She would love to be swept off her feet by a masked man and to find out he was the love of her life. Maybe he would even beat up Potter for her. Then he'd be the perfect man! Lily had had the worst luck with boys due to that prat frightening them away.

"I am all for it," Lily agreed, and the girls began planning the party.

***

Jade's party was set to be at the end of the month, and it gave Lily something exciting to look forward to. Lily still hadn't confronted her friend about Sirius and the broom closet; Lily was appalled that Jade would do that while Sirius was continually sending her pictures of her bra. So far she had received pictures of her bra on Peter, her bra on Remus' owl, her bra on James sleeping, her bra dangling from the boys' window and many others.

Muggle Studies had become worse. Jade and Sirius were getting along famously, as were Amber and Remus. Lily seemed to be the only one unwilling to forgive James for all the things he had done to her over the years.

"Oh flower!" Lily heard James cooing. She had been sitting peacefully by the fire when he sauntered up to her.

"Please don't call me that," Lily said tiredly.

"Your wish is my command," James replied, bowing.

Lily glared. "Grow up Potter."

James bowed once more. "You've got one more wish Lilykins, make it a good one."

"That is not growing up," Lily muttered.

James let the playful look slide off his face. "Is something wrong?" he asked, genuinely interested.

"Nothing that I would tell you, you prat."

"Okay, well I've finished most of my Muggle Studies stuff, so I was wondering if you would take me shopping for Muggle clothes." James inquired.

The last thing Lily wanted to do was go shopping with James. "Sorry, I'm already going with Jade and Amber." She lied.

"Really? I was under the impression that they were going with Sirius and Remus respectively," James retorted.

Lily groaned. _Why me?_ She thought. "Okay fine, we can go together as long as you promise to behave yourself."

James put on an angelic face, "Of course flower," he smiled.

"Don't call me that," Lily muttered before gathering up her things and heading to the dormitory. She found Jade and Amber lazing on their beds reading the Cosmopolitan magazines Lily had brought from over the summer.

"Have you read this Lily? I don't understand have the stuff it is saying. What is texting?" Jade asked.

Lily explained the concept to her friend.

"So you can send messages by the fellytone thingy just like that?" she said, awed.

Lily nodded, "you can use e-mail too. It's very fast."

"What's that? Jade asked, and Amber and Lily spent the rest of the night explaining how Muggle things worked to Jade.

***

"Okay, that is it!" Lily decided. "We are going to get my bra back tonight."

"And how do you propose we do so?" Jade asked.

Lily quickly explained her plan to Jade and Amber, who agreed that it would be fun and would work.

"Can I wear my new leather pants?" Jade asked.

"Of course you can, we need to be clad in all black!"

Lily pulled on a pair of tight black pants and a long sleeved V-cut shirt. Amber was wearing black skinny jeans and a long sleeved shirt with silver trim. Jade was clad in her new leather pants and high heel boots with a zip up motorcycle jacket, her black hair cascading down her back.

"Where did you get that?" Lily asked, gesturing at the coat.

"Oh well, no where..." Jade blushed.

"It looks very familiar," Lily retorted, trying to remember where she had seen it.

"Nope, brand new," Jade said, lining her eyes with black eyeliner.

Lily shrugged and pulled her hair back into a ponytail. Amber did the same. Once the girls had put on their war paint and assured that the only skin showing was their faces, they agreed that they were ready.

"Now remember, I'll take stupid Potter, Jade you take Sirius, and Amber you take Remus. If Peter gets up, we stun him. You ready?"

The three girls crept out of their dormitory. Through the window they could see a crescent moon shining in the sky. It lit up the common room so eerie shadows crept about the walls. The fire had burned out, and only a few coals were left. Lily put a finger up to her lips indicating to be quiet. The girls crept up to the boys' dormitory without making a sound. Lily eased the door open, but it creaked anyway. They stopped dead in their tracks. Sirius' loud snoring filled the room.

Lily signalled for her friends to approach their designated beds. They quickly searched the trunks of the boys, finding nothing as Lily had suspected. It was then that she saw the little bit of lace hanging out of James' pillow.

Waving her arms around frantically, she got the attention of the other two girls and attempted to pull it out. A hand snatched the bra away, and a triumphant "ha!" sounded in the air. Lily looked at the sleeping form in the bed, and just had time to recognize it as a dummy before she was grabbed around the waist and whisked off into a corner.

"Hello flower. How has your night been?" James asked conversationally as he tied her arms behind her back.

"What are you doing you prat? Get off of me!"

"Ha. You forget that you were the one visiting me late at night flower. I was only catching you." James replied.

Lily looked to her friends for help, but it was still dark in the room and she could see nothing. She did however, hear smooching noises.

"Jade, is that you? Are you serious?" she yelled at her friend.

"Just making the best of it Lily!" Came Jade's muffled voice.

"So why are you guys tying us up?" Lily asked James.

"You broke into our room. You have committed a crime Ms. Evans. We will keep you here as long as we wish."

Lily groaned. What had she gotten herself into? "Potter, what do you want?"

"Well, you were about to steal the bra, but you have forgotten our bargain flower. Remember, you owe me a kiss?" James chuckled as he carried her over to his bed and sat her down on the mattress.

"Potter, please. That's my private property!"

"Not so private is it?" James snickered to himself. Lily heard the door open and close.

"Remus? What the bloody hell are you doing?" she heard Sirius yell.

"I think I'm gonna get out of here. Amber is deathly afraid of the dark." He replied from the doorway.

Sirius muttered something to himself, but allowed Remus to leave.

"How come they get to go?" Lily complained.

"Amber was only an accomplice. You are the real threat Lily Evans." James whispered in her ear.

And then he was kissing her, waves rippled through her body, and surprisingly she wanted to kiss him back, but years of hate towards him forced her to push him off, but to no avail. She found she couldn't breathe, something was choking her, and she didn't have enough air...

"LILY! WAKE UP!" Jade was screaming, trying to hold Lily's legs down while Amber held her arms.

"Wha —? What's going on?" Lily demanded as Amber loosened the sheets from around her neck.

"You were apparently having a terrible dream. You were thrashing all over the place and mumbling about sparks or something," Jade replied.

Lily was glad it was still dark and her friends couldn't see her blush.

"What were you dreaming about anyway?" Amber inquired.

Lily told them about her dream, conveniently leaving out the part about her and James kissing.

"Wow." Jade said bluntly. "I never thought you would get so worked up about it. Shall we go and act out the real thing now? It's nearly midnight."

Lily nodded, and the girls got out of bed. Lily decided she must have fallen asleep right after they had finished getting ready, because all three girls were still in their black clothing. Lily shook the dream and the kiss out of her head, and prepared to get her bra back.

The girls crept out of their room, closing the door quietly behind them. The staircase was completely deserted save for the sound of squeaky little mice.

"Ew," Lily heard Jade mutter behind her.

They entered the common room with no problems, and just like in her dream the crescent moon shone through the window causing shadows to dance along the walls. The fire had burned down and was slowly crackling away. Lily motioned her friends towards the staircase leading up to the boys' dormitories. They slowly crept up, taking care not to make a sound. When they got to the door, Lily slowly eased it open, and her ears were blasted with the sound of Sirius and Peter snoring.

"Holy," she heard Jade whisper behind her.

The girls made their way to their respective beds, and like her dream, they began searching for the bra. Like in her dream, they were unable to find it in any trunk or drawer.

Lily, feeling like her dream had been a premonition, checked James' bed. She chanced a poke at his side, and determined that he was real, and not a dummy. As she lifted the corner of his pillow, she saw some black lace sticking out. She gently began to pull it, waiting any minute for a hand to grab it from her. She pulled the entire bra out, and nothing happened.

Heaving in a deep sigh, she turned to the door beckoning her friends to follow her. They crept out of the room with no further incidences.

Once they were safely back in their dormitory, Lily hid the bra under her pillow.

"Nice work ladies," she complimented.

"Thanks, I'm a natural," Jade replied. "I'm signing autographs later."

Lily chuckled as she changed into her pyjamas. Now Potter would have no leverage over her.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: ****Hey guys! Sorry about not updating quickly. Second year university is killing me! Anyway, I have about 11 Chapters written out right now, and my friends are pestering me for more, so hopefully a couple more Chapters will be coming your way soon. Don't expect anything for another month though, because exams are coming! Maybe for a Christmas present ****. Thank you guys so much for reading! **

**Please, please review!!!!**

**Chapter 4- Birthdays**

With the end of September approaching quickly, Lily found herself immersed in party plans. Jade's party had been planned almost to perfection and almost every detail was in place. Since they were to be writing NEWT's this year, Lily had to deal with a never ending pile of homework as well. And then there was James. Lily had been feeling increasingly uncomfortable around James. Every time he sat near her the sparks would arrive, which Lily noticed also made James uncomfortable. Lily was also dwelling on the dream that she had had about James. She relived it in her head, remembering the way his lips felt and the explosion of feelings inside of her as their lips met. Lily hated the dream. There was no way it meant anything. It was just a stupid dream. Still, she continued to relive it so she could find the meaning.

Amber and Jade had disappeared before Lily had awoken that morning, so she headed to the library to get some studying in.

Lily dropped her book bag onto the table with a loud _thunk_, and began unloading it onto the table.

"Whatcha doin' flower?" a voice came from behind her.

"What the..? Merlin's beard Potter, what are you doing?" she cried, turning around.

James smiled at her and tweaked her nose. He was standing very close and Lily could smell his cologne.

"No need to stand so close, I wouldn't want to catch something," Lily plugged her nose, and turned towards her bag.

"What do you think I am? Some kind of animal?" James asked, chuckling at some joke.

"What do you want Potter, I've got loads of work to do today and you aren't making it any better."

"I just came to check on your sunny personality, you really are quite happy all the time."

Lily scowled, which made James chuckle. "If you don't mind Potter I've got quite a lot to do."

James looked at his fingernails, as if contemplating something important. He sighed loudly, earning a few annoyed looks from students who were trying to study. "The thing is...I need a Potions tutor."

"So go find one," Lily shot back, spreading her homework out on the table.

"Slughorn told me to come to you or Snape and I will not be tutored by that snivelling scumbag."

Lily grimaced. Although she and Severus had broken ties last year because of the group of friends he hung out with, it still hurt her feelings when people were mean to him. "Fine Potter," she agreed, too tired to argue with him.

A look of glee crossed James' face, "Perfect! Let's start now!"

As hard as she tried, Lily couldn't think of a reason to say no, so James sat down at the table and pulled out his Potions paper. Slughorn had set them a paper on Veritaserum, a potion which forces the drinker to divulge his or her innermost secrets. Lily concentrated on her parchment, until she realized that the sparks were back. She inched her chair away from James, hoping that they would disappear, but to no avail. James looked just as uncomfortable as Lily did, which made Lily even more uncomfortable since James was usually comfortable in any setting.

"Okay, so what are your problems?" Lily asked, trying to break the silence.

"A fiery red-head will not accept my advances," James joked, tipping back in his chair.

Lily raised her eyebrow, and flicked her foot up so it caught James' chair causing him to fall backwards, ending up in a heap on the ground.

"Serves you right," Lily said as he got up rubbing his butt.

"I like a little spark in a girl," James winked at her and sat back in his chair, resisting the urge to tip it back again. Lily was satisfied as he winced a bit when he sat.

Lily rolled her eyes. "I can't tutor you if you continue to make these stupid remarks."

"I guess Snivellus wouldn't be so bad...but I'd much rather look at your face during a long tutor session. It doesn't matter anyway. I am actually excellent at Potions." James said, getting up and pushing his chair in.

"What? Then why would you..." Lily stopped, unable to form a whole sentence.

"Mystery of the Marauder. I am quite good aren't I? That has worked on many a girl, that cute blonde one from Ravenclaw, as if I would need help in Transfiguration..." James trailed off; counting all the girls he had pulled his little trick on. "But I would rather be upfront with you." He finished.

Lily just stared at him like he was a dancing flobberworm. "I don't think I follow."

"And I thought you were the smart one." James laughed. "See you at dinner flower," he said, winking at Lily before he sauntered out of the library.

Lily stared at him in disbelief. What was that all about?

* * *

"You see Sirius? It's all about confusion." James explained, telling Sirius about his new plan to get Lily.

"I don't follow," Sirius said, his face scrunched up in concentration. James had been explaining his idea to Sirius for the past half hour, and Sirius was unable to grasp the concept.

"I've tried annoyance, jokes and all our usual tactics." James said slowly. "Now, if you confuse them, they don't know what you're thinking, and they don't know what you could do next!" James announced as if it were the most genius plan ever.

Sirius just stared at him. "Nope nothing. In one ear and out the other," he laughed, sprawling out on his bed.

"I've always wondered how you have made it through school. Does anything get through that thick skull of yours?" James joked, chucking a pillow at his best friend.

Sirius grinned. "I do exceptionally well at Charms I'll have you know. And I'm good at Quidditch," he added defensively.

"Have you been invited to Jade's birthday party this year? Masquerade?" Sirius wiggled his eyebrows.

"Perfect chance. I think I will ask Lily out that night," James pondered.

"Don't you think it's a bit early according to your 'ingenious' plan?" Sirius laughed.

"I don't see you getting any girls Sirius," James retorted.

"Ha, none that you know about –" Sirius was interrupted by Remus entering the room.

"Just got chased by a bunch of girls. Asking if you had a girlfriend Sirius." Remus panted and threw himself on his bed.

"Ah yes, I am quite the charmer."

Remus rolled his eyes. "Someone isn't conceited..."

Sirius chuckled and lounged on his bed humming a happy tune. "So what is the big plan for Jade's party?" he asked excitedly. "Love potions?"

"Nah, that is so fifth year Sirius," James answered. "We need to do something different. Have you ever heard of Batman?"

"Hello? I am a half-blood of course I have," Remus replied. "Why?"

"Well he wears a mask right?" James asked.

"Are you suggesting that we dress up as Muggle superheroes with masks?"

James nodded vigorously. "Imagine all the witty jokes I can pull out with that one!"

Remus chuckled. "Dibs on Spiderman!" he called out.

"What the bloody hell are you two talking about? My superior pure-blood upbringing has apparently excluded Muggle superheroes. Who can I be?" Sirius cried out in mock distress.

"Robin. He's Batman's sidekick!" James yelled.

Sirius groaned and began complaining about wishing he was a Muggle so he wouldn't always end up playing the sidekick.

"Wait, I've got a better idea." Remus announced. "We dress in tuxedoes and masks for this party, then we have a superhero party afterwards so we aren't limited by the masks! I know tons of superheroes!"

"Excellent plan Moony, what would we do without that brain of yours?" James asked.

Remus chuckled. "It's settled then. So how will we go about getting these tuxedoes?"

"Don't worry Moony, James Potter has a plan."

* * *

"It's going to be a disaster! A complete disaster!" Jade cried.

The three girls had been shopping for over two hours and none of them had yet found a mask. Lily's feet were aching, and she suspected Ambers were as well. Jade had taken them through what felt like all of Hogsmeade in search of the perfect dress and mask, but so far they had been unsuccessful.

"C'mon Jade, there has got to be a good costume shop somewhere here. Let's go into every store and see what we can find," Lily suggested.

"Fine, but I already know there won't be anything," Jade said dramatically.

Lily suppressed a chuckle. It was just like her friend to say something like that. Lily couldn't help but feel excited about Jade's party coming up. She felt like she could use a break from school, and it was only the first month! Plus, having to deal with James and those stupid sparks didn't help much either. They were trotting along the main street in Hogsmeade when Lily saw a store they had missed on their way down. It was very old looking and seemed to be falling apart, but the faded sign told her what she needed to know.

"Look you guys! Costumes!" Lily cried, pointing in the window.

Jade whistled at the costume on display which was a medieval dress that laced up at the back and was made of the finest red silk. "I bet the perfect ones are in there!" she cried out in glee, rushing towards the store.

Lily exchanged an exasperated glance with Amber, and then both girls followed Jade into the store.

The store was much bigger the inside than it looked on the outside. Walls were adorned with moving pictures of models sporting different outfits. Racks of costumes cluttered the floor, ranging from scary masks to gorgeous dresses.

"Let's start with the dresses!" Jade exclaimed, making her way over to the most expensive rack, Lily and Amber in tow.

Lily snuck off and began browsing the sales rack when something shiny caught her eye. A delicate white mask was on a pedestal adorned by a diamond in between the two eyes. Attached to the top of the silky mask was a tiara of pearls. Lily gasped as she saw the price. 50 galleons! There was no way she would be able to afford that.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Amber, who came to stand beside her. "That is gorgeous!" She gushed. "You should get it Lily."

"Yes, except for the fact that is costs about 50 galleons!" Lily cried out.

Amber shrugged, and drifted off to look at some dresses.

In the end, all three girls found a dress and a mask. Although she had wanted the white mask, Lily had settled for a much cheaper light pink mask encircled by white lace. Beside the right eye hung a beaded pendant encircled by numerous white and light pink feathers with three long ones sticking out. To match, Lily had chosen simple silky light pink dress with thin straps which reached to her knees and complimented her creamy skin.

Amber had chosen a silky blue mask, the eyes encircled by little pink flowers. A rose sat on the right side and from it streamed light blue ribbons. To go with her mask, she had chosen a knee-length blue strapless dress with a bow around the middle.

Jade, however, was the grandest of them all. Her mask was different colours of green wrapped around each other. The eyes were adorned with green emeralds which brought out her eyes. On the left side, a dark green piece of lace was wrapped around a pink rose. Her dress was a slinky black dress which didn't make it to her knees. It had only one sleeve, and it clung to her curves provocatively.

Pleased with their purchases, the girls headed back to Hogwarts, happily chatting about Jade's upcoming party.

***

The masked man in the tuxedo swung Lily around, her dress floating around her. She had found him! The masked man she had so constantly dreamt about. He delicately dipped her, then brought her back up and crushed her closer to him. Merlin he was a good dancer... Lily was in heaven. Never in her wildest dreams had she dreamt he would be this perfect. He was tall, with broad shoulders and dark hair. He wore a black and navy blue mask made of silk. Hazel eyes looked at her seductively from behind the mask. Lily thought he was perfect. She lost herself in the music, fantasizing about this man. He would not be afraid of James Potter; he would stay with her regardless of what James did or said to him. Lily smiled at the thought just as the dance ended. The man kissed her softly, and then disappeared into the crowd. Lily was troubled; she could have sworn she had kissed those lips before. So then who was it? Lily racked her brain about the few boys she had actually kissed and came up with nothing. Unsettled, she made her way over to Jade who was leaning against a table with a murderous look on her face.

"What's up?" Lily asked Jade, pouring herself a glass of punch

Jade glared at the problem, and Lily was reminded of the Muggle saying 'If looks could kill". If they could, the girl Jade was glaring at would have dropped dead. Lily had never seen her before. She walked around with evident authority, her head held high. Blonde curls tumbled down her back, bouncing as she commanded the attention of every boy in the room. Her icy blue eyes looked curiously dead, but there was always a smile on her full pink lips.

"Who is that?" Lily asked in awe.

"Apparently she is a new exchange student from France," Jade said venomously.

Lily watched the girl again, who was now dancing with a masked man in a tuxedo. _Her_ masked man! The stupid girl had stolen her masked saviour or whatever the bloody hell he was.

"I think I have to go," Lily said.

Jade nodded. "Wait for me," she replied, and disappeared into the crowd.

Lily stood by the table, trying to look anywhere but at the couple in the middle of the dance floor. She was so lost in thought that she didn't realize someone was talking to her.

"Excusez-moi Madame. Are you Lily Evans?"

Lily looked up and was startled by the icy blue eyes facing her.

"Er...Yes," she replied awkwardly.

"I 'eard you were de best weetch in your year," the girl continued. "I am Caroline." She extended her hand for Lily to shake

"Pleasure," Lily whispered sarcastically as she took the blonde girls hand. It was icy cold. The girl let go and Lily suddenly felt intensely tired. The girl smiled.

" 'Ope to see you around," she said, then made her way back to the center of the crowd.

Lily studied her hand, turning it over. It was still cold, but was slowly warming up to room temperature. How odd. She still felt tired, and she found it difficult to follow Jade out of the party, as her legs were as heavy as lead.

"Are you okay Lily?" Jade asked.

"Fine. I must have just—" Lily said just before everything went black.

***

Lily awoke the next day, feeling worse than she could ever remember feeling in her life. Every muscle in her body ached as she moved. She was freezing, even though there were at least five blankets piled on top of her. A steaming goblet waited on the night stand beside her, emitting a foul odour.

_What happened?_ Lily thought as she tried to push herself up out of bed. She vaguely remembered Jade's birthday party and the icy blonde girl. Lily didn't know what she was, but she was unnatural.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Jade bustling into the room, Amber trailing behind her.

"...Worst birthday ever! All because of that stupid...Ugh!" Jade exclaimed.

Amber patted her on the back sympathetically.

"Lily, how are you feeling?" Jade demanded, Lily thought rather harshly.

"Everything hurts and I'm freezing," Lily replied in a croaky voice.

"Take the potion, it'll help," Amber suggested.

Lily grimaced and had Jade help her up. The moment the potion was down her throat, she immediately felt warmer, and her muscles began to loosen. A thumping headache began to set in.

"What happened?" Lily asked.

Jade explained how the party had been going well until the new girl had arrived. She then proceeded to call the girl many names and insinuated that she had ruined the party. She finished by explaining how James had carried Lily back up to the castle after she had passed out, and that he had sat by her bed for two hours until Jade kicked him out.

Lily then relayed her experience with the new girl whom Jade had dubbed "The Ice Queen." Then she told them about the masked man, with little enthusiasm as he had been stolen from her.

"Oh I will get that girl." Jade growled. "No one ruins my birthday and takes Lily Evans' man!"

Lily giggled. "Thanks Jade, but really, it was too good to be true."

Jade and Amber smiled at her sadly, and helped her out of bed so she could go down to dinner.

Review Responses:

Merlyn Britainnicus Haha, yeah. That was my bad, I don't know how that got in there. It's one of those things where you write part of the Chapter, and then come back to it later and forget. So, my apologies.

**Thanks to everyone else who reviewed! **

**P.S. When you guys write reviews...I like to write more! Haha, even a simple "nice one!" or "this sucks!" etc. Thanks for reading! **

**Next time: The group takes a trip to London to buy Muggle clothing. Jade and Sirius are caught in a compromising position. And all Lily's dress choices are too long!**


	5. Chapter 5 A Trip to London

**A/N: I know I said there would be one at Christmas! I'm sooo sorry! I went home and to be honest I completely forgot about it! So without further ado, here is Chappie 5!!! **

**Thanks for reading!**

**Chapter 5- A Trip to London**

Although their Muggle Studies trip was still months away, Lily couldn't stop thinking about it. She decided that having James as a partner would not ruin her trip. She would have fun no matter what. But James had become much easier to manage since he found Caroline. He seemed to have met his match in her. Lily noticed him watching her every move, and she had even overheard James telling Sirius that Caroline was his newest conquest. He was certainly spending quite a lot of time with her. Lily had even noticed pink lipstick on his lips when he walked in late to class. Not that she cared at all what Potter was doing.

After Jade's apparently disastrous birthday party, Lily had quickly regained her strength. Her memory of that night was hazy, as if the memories had been taken from her. But she still remembered the masked man. She wasn't going to give up on him that easily. She had taken to searching people's eyes in the corridors, something which earned her many odd looks. But she didn't care. Not many people could have hazel eyes, and Lily was sure that when she saw them she would know them. So far, she hadn't found anybody. Still, she remained hopeful.

At least there was something to distract her from the masked man. Their first Muggle Studies trip into London was scheduled for the following week. They were to exchange their money for Muggle money, then shop for appropriate clothing to wear on their trip. This was good news because Lily could bring her Muggle wardrobe up to date. It was bad news because it meant she had to spend the whole day with James. She was not looking forward to this one little bit. Jade and Amber seemed fine going with Sirius and Remus. Which was no problem because they were both a million times better than Potter. Lily could feel a familiar gloom creeping up on her, but she was determined to forget it and just have fun. Maybe she could ditch him and go off on her own.

Lily's thoughts were interrupted as she opened a tapestry to take a hidden passageway and she ran into two people snogging.

"What the..?" she yelled out before realizing it was James she was looking at. His face was deadly white, but Lily thought he looked embarrassed about being caught. The other person was easily identifiable. It was a girl with long curly blonde hair and icy blue eyes. Caroline.

James looked at Lily, and their eyes met. His seemed pleading. She just glared at him coldly, and then broke contact. "Some Head Boy," she muttered, and continued her way down the hallway.

"Honestly! Those are not the qualities we are looking for in a Head Boy!" Lily raved to Jade and Amber. "Snogging in corridors! I never would have thought…" she trailed off at the look on Jade's face.

"What?"

Jade chuckled. "If I didn't know any better Lily, I would say you were jealous."

Lily just stared at her friend incredulously. Her? Jealous of Caroline and James Potter snogging? After everything he had done to her, all those pranks he had pulled, and her best friend thought she was jealous? As if. Lily crossed her arms huffily, grabbed her robe and shampoo, and stomped out of the room. She could have sworn she heard Jade chuckling at her as she left. Jade could think whatever she wanted, but Lily was not jealous. There was no way.

Lily's thoughts carried her all the way to the Prefect's bathroom where she whispered the password and entered. She glanced at the portrait on the wall, which usually depicted a mermaid. She was absent now. Good. Lily needed to think, and she didn't need some mermaid talking to her.

She turned on her favourite taps. One that poured out vanilla scented bubbles, another that poured out golden yellow water, and one that shot rainbows over the tub. Then she turned on the regular hot water, undressed, and entered the warm swimming-pool sized tub.

After doing a couple of laps across the pool, Lily grabbed a tube from the side and floated on it in the middle of the pool. Huge air-balloon sized bubbles floated about her bringing the comforting scent of vanilla, which calmed her down. She always chose the golden water because it was a happy colour, and it too had a calming effect.

Lily piled her hair on top of her head, and settled down in her tube to think.

She wasn't jealous. What reason did she have to be? James could snog whoever he wanted, it wasn't like she had a claim on him. But then what did those sparks mean? She gathered up some water and splashed her face with it. And then there was the dream. The dream had seemed so real. He had kissed her. She had never felt that kind of feeling in her entire life. Which was sad, she reflected. Something in her dreams was much better than real life. Lily sighed, accidentally inhaling vanilla bubbles. She coughed loudly, her voice echoing off the bathroom walls.

She leaned back in her tube and closed her eyes. The bubbles and water and rainbows were so relaxing. She felt the water soaking into her. She would just forget about it all. She would act completely normal until the end of the school year. Then she would go off to pursue an important career, maybe as an Auror where she could put a stop to all the dark magic that seemed to be going around.

Lord Voldemort. That's what people were calling this man. This was the man that Severus had seemingly turned to serve. Lily cringed. How had she misjudged him so? He was her best childhood friend, and he had left her for power and dark magic. And then there were those awful friends of his who cursed people in the hallways to hurt them. They had all rallied around this man. Lily tried not to think about this, but sometimes she couldn't help it. There had been several disappearances and deaths lately, none of them natural. The thing that frightened her most was that he was going after Muggle-borns and their families. She couldn't bear it if Voldemort were to kill her family just because she was born.

Lily shuddered and realized that she had been crying. For what or who, she wasn't sure. It could have been for poor Severus, who had fallen into this evil man's trap. It could have been for her family being in danger. She wiped the tears off her face and submerged herself in the water, which was now lukewarm. Time to get out. Lily was glad to. All her fears and thoughts had presented themselves during her time in the bath only to get more mixed up with one another. She had made everything worse by thinking about all of it. She put it all into the back of her mind as she got dressed and made her way back up to the girl's dormitories.

"I believe you have something that belongs to me flower," said a voice in Lily's ear, making her jump.

She turned to see Potter's face extremely close to her. "Merlin Potter, what do you need?" she asked, turning back to her breakfast.

It had been about a week since Jade's birthday party, and the next day they were to go to London and shop for Muggle clothing. Lily had been hoping to avoid James until then, but to no avail.

"I seem to be missing something black and lacy," he whispered in her ear making her shiver.

"I'm afraid I don't know what you are talking about." Lily said, taking a sip of pumpkin juice.

James grinned at her. "I've always told you I like a little mystery in a woman. It's fine Lilykins. I will have my black lacy push-up bra. Peter is sorely missing it."

Lily snorted into her pumpkin juice. She had to admit it was a bit funny that Peter fit her bra. If it were anyone else's bra, she would have found it hilarious.

"Bugger off Potter," she whispered back to him.

James chuckled and sauntered off to sit beside Sirius who seemed to be telling a very funny story to an admiring group of fifth years. They were completely riveted until James 'accidentally' shoved Sirius' face into his porridge. Lily chuckled.

Things between her and James had gone pretty much back to normal. He continued to badger her about her bra and she refused to give it back. But something had changed. She no longer felt awkward around him. Maybe it was that he and Caroline were now together so Lily didn't have to worry about him anymore. Or maybe she had just changed and decided to be more open. Whatever it was, it was something new and unexplored, and she had been enjoying her time with James much more. Maybe going shopping with him wasn't such a bad thing. He would be honest about what looked good, which was a plus.

With a smile playing about her lips, Lily entered her Muggle Studies classroom. Jade and Amber were already there chatting with Remus. Lily dropped her bookbag at the desk she and James shared, and then made her way over to join them.

"Hey guys, what's up?" she asked.

"I was just telling these two about how Black thinks he can wear capes in the Muggle world. I told him that it was a Muggle fashion statement. We are going to pick out a black cape for him tomorrow so he can be up with the latest trends," Jade laughed.

"He believed you?" Lily asked incredulously.

Jade nodded, laughing. "Can you believe it? I can't wait for him to wear it." At this thought she burst out laughing, almost falling off her chair. Lily laughed along with Remus and Amber.

At that moment James sauntered into the classroom, his hair messier than usual and his lips tinged with pink. "Nice lipstick," Jade smirked.

James turned red and attempted to wipe it off on the sleeve of his cloak.

"No don't, it is definitely your colour," Remus laughed.

James threw his friend a dirty look. "Whatever Moony. Where is dearest Sirius?"

"He said something about having to wash his face," Remus replied.

"Oh yes, that's right. I shoved his head in porridge. How could I forget?" James said nonchalantly as Remus laughed.

"Settle down class," Professor Clement called as the class took their seats.

Lily settled herself beside James, noticing how his face looked devoid of colour. She thought he was looking very sickly.

"As you know, tomorrow we will be going to London to shop around for Muggle clothing. We will arrive in Diagon Alley around noon, exchange our money at Gringotts, then you will have three hours to buy as much as you will need for the trip. We'll meet back at Flourish and Blotts around 3:30." Professor Clement explained.

Lily could feel the excitement mounting. Trips to Hogsmeade had long been boring for the 7th years, so a trip to London was sure to bring excitement. James nudged her playfully grinning wide. Lily noticed again that he looked very tired and his face was deathly white. "Are you okay?" she whispered to him as Professor Clement began explaining electricity.

"I'm just a bit tired, that's all," he replied, and smiled as if to reassure her. "Caroline sure keeps me busy!"

Lily scowled at him. They had been getting along so well. Lily turned around and began diligently taking notes about electricity. No one could blame her for not trying. She had been nice to him all day, and he had just been a royal jerk. Maybe they would just have to remain enemies forever.

Lily met a yawning James in the Common Room the next morning so they could make their way to Diagon Alley. Despite his tiredness, he grinned when she came down, and his excitement was contagious. Lily couldn't help but smile. "Ready?" he asked happily.

"Of course, I am basically a Muggle. I know what I'm doing." Lily replied.

James mocked her all the way down to breakfast. "I'm Muggle-born, so superior!"

Lily heard a long laugh from behind her. She turned to see Caroline following closely behind her and James.

"Hey baby," she said to him quietly, but loud enough for Lily to hear. She smiled provocatively at Lily, as if daring her to take James.

Lily almost snorted. As if she was hitting on James. She was tolerating him, and only because he was her Muggle Studies partner. There were no feelings at all. So why was she so angry when Caroline pulled James away for what seemed like a snogging session?

Lily shook her head, and went to take her seat beside Jade and Sirius, who was inquiring about the type of cape to buy.

"What do you think Lily? Green looks very dashing on me."

Lily tried very hard not to laugh. "Green definitely. But if you really want to impress the Muggle girls, you should get a silver one." She replied.

Jade gave her a thumbs-up from behind Sirius.

"Oh, and don't worry if you don't see many people wearing capes at the mall. Only upper-class males wear those types of capes. Most people can't afford them. It indicates standing in society," Lily continued.

"Right," Sirius said.

I was all Lily could do not to laugh. She avoided Jade's eyes for the rest of breakfast and until Sirius had gone back up to the Common Room to change into a shirt which would match a silver cape.

"Nice one Lily," Jade gushed. "That was a beautiful performance!"

Lily half bowed. "Thanks. Sirius is so gullible."

"And so dreamy," Jade added.

Lily rolled her eyes. "I can't believe you guys have a thing. You are basically each other incarnate."

Jade grinned. "It's absolutely perfect. But we aren't the juicy gossip. It's Amber and Remus. Speaking of, where are those two love birds?"

"Probably trying to keep quiet about their relationship. I don't know why they bother, everybody knows about it." Lily replied.

Jade nodded. "Ah, well. That's the way they deal with it I suppose. Me, I like to be open about my relationship. That way there is no confusion," she said grinning.

"Relationship? Not Relationship_s_?" Lily asked, putting her emphasis on the 's'.

A pinkish hue spread onto Jade's cheeks. "I mean all my relationships. They aren't relationships as much as having fun. Ha, ha" she giggled nervously.

Lily raised her eyebrows, but decided to drop the subject as James joined them at the table.

"Decided to join us have you?"

James nodded, looking sickly, and wolfed down a whole plate of toast in a matter of five seconds.

"You disgust me," Jade told him.

James just grinned and stuffed more food into his mouth as if it were all about to run off his plate. Jade shook her head at her childhood friend, and sauntered out of the hall, leaving Lily and James alone.

"Hey, Lily. Sorry about Caroline. She gets like that sometimes." James said between bites.

"Sorry about what?" Lily asked. "She didn't do anything wrong."

James just looked at her before taking a long swig of pumpkin juice. "If you say so," he said. "You ready to go?"

Lily nodded and the two headed out of the hall together.

"No?" Lily asked James, twirling around in a black dress.

James shook his head. "Too long." He grinned at her.

Lily sighed and went back into the change-room. She had tried on numerous dresses so she could have something nice to wear when they went out, and so far James had turned down every one. They had been either too bright, or too dull, too long or too short. Lily was almost fed up. She tried on the last dress, a dark green, almost black colour. It flowed down to her knees and had sleeves that hung off her shoulder. She sighed. _Here goes nothing_, she thought as she went to show James.

James' mouth dropped open. "Yes," he said, seemingly breathless.

Lily blushed. "Are you sure?"

James just nodded, his mouth still open.

"You can close your mouth now perv." Lily said.

"Sorry flower. Rockin' bod," James chuckled.

Lily scowled at him, and went back into the change-room to change. Would he ever grow up? She could still hear him chuckling outside her change room. Lily slipped off her dress, allowing it to pool on the floor. So far the trip hadn't been bad at all. James had cooperated with her, asking her questions about what sort of things he should wear and giving her feedback on what looked good. Lily did have to endure a few comments such as 'rockin bod', but all in all it hadn't been a terrible trip. She wondered how Jade and Amber were faring with their partners. Lily was sure Amber would be fine, but Jade could be having some trouble with Sirius. Lily chuckled as she thought about Sirius walking around in his silver cloak. She placed her dress back on its hanger, and left the change room to buy it.

James was waiting for her by the checkout counter, leaning on it casually. He grinned when Lily came out, and linked arms with her as they left the store.

"My turn now, flower," he said happily and sauntered off to a woman's clothing store.

Lily chuckled; James was lucky he had her as a partner.

She quickly steered him away from the clothing store and pointed him in the direction of a men's store. "Did you want to wear a dress?" she teased.

"Who knows Lilykins, dresses could be in fashion for men, how am I to know?"

Lily chuckled. "They are not, and hopefully they never will be."

He just grinned at her goofily, and dragged her into the store she had pointed out.

Lily was browsing the sales racks by the change rooms when she heard some scuffling in the middle one. One look underneath the door told her all she needed to know.

"You two are disgusting," Lily chimed.

She heard a sort of choking noise, and someone fell to the ground yelling "Ouch!" That was Sirius. "Bloody hell Lily!" her friend's voice rang out through the change room. "Why would you do that?" Jade asked her emerging from her change room.

Lily chuckled. "I didn't want to listen to you to scuffling around in there anymore."

Jade glared at her. "He was helping me get this dress on," she said, gesturing to the tiny black dress that Jade was attempting to fit into.

Lily raised an eyebrow. Jade was not a big girl, but she was what you would call curvy. There was no way she would fit into the tiny dress.

"I was just trying it on," Jade said defensively.

"Does this mean that...Sirius has seen you naked?" Lily giggled.

Jade's face went beet red. "Well...erm...not exactly...you see," she trailed off. "Don't tell Amber!"

"I won't, but I'm sure she would find it extremely entertaining." Lily replied, taking a peek into the change room. Sirius was sprawled on the floor rubbing his head.

"Oh, hello Lily dearest," he grimaced.

"Hey Sirius. How has the shopping been?" Lily asked.

"Marvellous! I bought the greatest cape, the girls are going to be all over me," he said proudly.

Lily attempted to hide her amusement. She could not wait to see Sirius walking along with his cape thinking he was of a higher standing than everyone else. Lily opened her mouth to say something when strong arms circled around her waist. "Hello lover lady," James' voice said in her ear.

"Ew Potter, get off me immediately!" Lily screamed.

"Or what? You'll give me detention?" he asked.

"I'll give you more than that," Lily muttered, as she continued to push his arms off her. James seemed to think this was a good thing as a huge grin crossed his face.

"Oy mate! What are you doing on the floor like that?" James asked having seen Sirius.

"Well the lovely Jade and I were having a happy (naked) time snogging, and then Lily had to come and ruin it," he replied.

"Lily, did you really?" James asked, as if he was angry at a small child.

"Well it was disgusting listening to them when I was trying to browse the sales rack!" she exclaimed.

"Point well made." James nodded. "We'll just leave you two alone then, problem solved."

Sirius grinned. "Thanks mate, see you later."

James winked and began tugging on Lily's arm. "Come on flower, nothing to see here."

"But I found some good stuff that would look really good..." Lily trailed off.

"My mate is more important than clothing," James replied.

Lily was rendered speechless by this statement. Since when did James care about others? What a surprise! Maybe he was maturing a little bit. Lily immediately took this thought back when she noticed him making a face at a little boy.

"What are you doing?" she demanded.

"He made a rude face at me, so I made one back," James said, shrugging.

Lily shook her head. He obviously hadn't matured in the least.

"What's on your mind flower?" he asked jovially.

"I just can't wait to get you some clothes!" Lily exclaimed which made him look at her funny and drop the subject.

"Onward, then!" he cried.

**REVIEWWWWW!!! Plz and Thx**


	6. Chapter 6 Swamps and Secrets

**Chapter 6- Swamps and Secrets**

Lily knew that something was wrong the moment she woke up. She was shivering violently and her bed sheets were extremely damp. The air around her was musty, and she was finding it difficult to breathe. Had she wet the bed? No. The whole sheet was wet, not just one part. She slowly drew her soggy bed hangings, afraid of what she might see.

_Ribbit!_

A frog? Lily thought, rubbing her eyes. When her eyesight cleared, her mouth dropped in horror. The girl's dorm had been infested with tall, moss-covered trees which created a leafy canopy above her. Dew dropped onto the girls' beds, the culprit of the soaking hangings and sheets. The floor was covered in murky, dirty water. On a lily pad sat the frog, who croaked again. Along with numerous lily pads, green and brown vegetation floated atop the stale water.

Once her eyes became further accustomed to the dimly lit room, she could make out different species of frogs everywhere joining in a chorus with one another. They say on top of her bedposts, on top of Jade's trunk and on top of the water cooler.

"Jade?" Lily squeaked. "Amber?"

Amber sat up to her left. "What in Merlin's name is going on?" she cried. "Why is everything wet?"

Jade woke up and immediately smacked her arm. "Mosquitoes?" She asked blearily. "Merlin's beard!" she cried after a quick survey of the room.

"Do you think there are...alligators?" Lily gulped.

"My question is how the bloody hell was our dormitory turned into a swamp?" Jade cried out.

A frog jumped on Jade's bed and she squealed, kicking it off quickly.

"Lily! Lily!" Amber pointed up at the canopy with a shaky finger. Lily looked up slowly, afraid of what she might see.

A snake about a meter long hung from one of the lower branches on a particularly sturdy tree. It was a pale tan colour with a series of slightly darker cross bands. It remained motionless, surveying the situation. Lily stifled a scream.

"Oh bloody hell! A snake!" she whispered shrilly.

Jade screamed loudly, and the snake dropped down from the tree which caused Lily and Amber to scream.

"What is it doing? What is it doing?" Jade screamed at her friends, standing up on the bed and pulling her blankets towards herself in case the snake nabbed them.

"Oh my God Lily, what are we going to do?" Amber squeaked.

Lily kept her eye on the snake, which slithered over to a tree and camouflaged itself with the leaves.

"Do you think there are more?" Lily asked, keeping an eye on the trees.

Jade sat on her bed shivering. "Hate snakes..." she said quietly. She drew her knees towards her body and hugged them in a death grip. "Venomous?" she asked Lily, unable to form a full sentence.

"Let's hope not!" Lily tried to reassure her. "How are we going to get out of this?"

Amber screamed. "Alligator!" She pointed at a black snout protruding from the water.

Lily's stomach back flipped. The alligator was black and about five meters long. Its endless black eyes stared at Lily as if it was marking her as its next pray.

"Don't move!" Lily whispered, hand reaching for her wand. She found the familiar stick and immediately shot a jet of fire at the alligator.

It was one of her worst ideas. The animal roared in pain and snapped its jaws menacingly, tearing off one of the bedposts of one of the unoccupied beds.

"Why the bloody hell are you duelling it Lily?" Jade screamed. "Throw bloody fire at it won't you? I'm sure that'll get rid of it!"

Lily glared at her friend. She wracked her brain for another spell to use. Banishing? No, that would just make it angrier. Jaw-lock? Perhaps, but that wouldn't get rid of it.

"Vanish it!" Amber yelled, her blue eyes wide.

Lily nodded. "_Evanesco!"_ She cried, and the angry alligator vanished into thin air. "Shall we try it on the swamp then?" she asked, her voice shaking. Her heart had never pounded so hard.

Both girls nodded.

"You do it then Amber, you're much better at it than I am."

Amber grabbed her wand from the table beside her and performed the spell.

Nothing happened.

Then a sudden crack of thunder resounded in the room and it began to rain hard. The drops thundered into the swampy water disturbing its serene demeanour.

"Bloody hell and Merlin's pants!" Lily heard Jade scream from across the room as she wrapped her comforter around her shoulders. "I'm going to kill those boys when I see them!"

Lily's heart stopped. "You really don't think it was them do you?" she asked, not wanting to believe it. James had been cooperating so well.

Jade raised an eyebrow. "Lily, you're so naive. How the hell else would we end up living in a swamp?"

Lily mumbled something about advanced magic, but had to admit that Jade had a point. James and Sirius were the only people who would do such a thing to them. And they sure had the means to research a spell such as the one threatening her right now. James and his group were the only people in the school who had any motive to turn her sleeping quarters into a swamp. With snakes. And alligators.

"Potter is such a prat. Just wait until I'm through with him!" she cried, slamming her fist into her mattress with a loud squelch.

Before Jade could pipe up about what she would do to Sirius, Amber cut in. "First, let's find some way to get out of here. Do you think we could conjure a bridge? Or levitate ourselves out the door?"

Lily contemplated the situation as she swatted flies and other insects away from her bed. "Shall we try to evaporate it?" she asked.

Her two friends nodded, pulling their blankets closer around their bodies.

Lily performed the charm, Amber with her wand ready in case something happened. The water evaporated quickly, and the room soon became unbearably hot.

"Now!" Lily cried, and the three girls made a frantic bid for the door. Just as they reached it, all the evaporated water, along with the vegetation that had been floating on it, tumbled from the canopy, drenching the infuriated girls. Lily wrenched the door open, and almost tripped out into the corridor, closely followed by Jade and Amber.

Jade used a few choice words before she abandoned her water logged comforter by the now closed door.

"I'm going to kill him if any of my stuff is ruined." She said, making Lily shiver. "SIRIUS ORION BLACK!" Jade bellowed, her voice echoing up the staircase as she stomped down to the Common Room. Lily could hear shuffling and maybe the sound of a chair tipping over. She and Amber followed, leaving a puddle in their wake.

After hitting Sirius in every place she could reach and yelling at him for fifteen minutes straight, Jade felt much better. Everyone who had been present at the scene thought James Potter a very lucky man to have escaped the wrath of Lily.

After Jade had finished, Lily took the two girls to the prefect's bathroom where they could wash up before their classes that afternoon.

"Lucky thing we had a free period this morning!" Lily sung as she popped a rather large bubble.

"What are you so happy about?" Jade raised an eyebrow at her friend.

"I vanished a crocodile!" Lily sung in a high pitched voice. "I haven't ever fully vanished something!"

Jade rolled her eyes. "What is up with you?" she asked Amber, who looked dejected as she floated in a tube, her blonde hair floating in the water.

"I'm a bit disappointed in Remus to be honest." She admitted. "That was really scary. If Lily hadn't had her wand close by we could have been in trouble. That was a very dangerous prank."

Jade grimaced. "Truthfully, I don't think Remus had as much to do with it as Sirius and James." She reassured Amber. "He may have done some research, but you know he would never think of setting an alligator on us. That one is all on James. Sometimes he takes things a little bit too far." Jade said.

Amber didn't look reassured.

"It's true Amber. Remus wouldn't participate in something harmful like that. This is all on Potter and Black." Lily added.

Amber brightened up a bit.

"Oh and by the way, we both know that you and Remus are in a relationship. So why don't you come out and say it?" Jade said nonchalantly.

Amber went red. "We actually aren't," she said sadly.

"What? Why the bloody hell not?" Jade demanded.

Amber smiled at the bluntness of her friend. "Well, he says he really likes me, but that he can't have a girlfriend no matter how much he likes someone." She admitted.

Lily couldn't believe it. She had been positive that the two were secretly together. "No way."

Amber nodded sadly. "He says he loves spending time with me, but that he's involved in some dangerous things that could harm me."

Lily was confused. Remus involved in dangerous affairs?

"Plus, his grandmother recently died..."

"Hold on!" Jade interrupted. "Just how many grandmothers does he have? As I recall, one died in our third year, one in our fifth, and one last year! Now maybe one side of his family is a little unorthodox, but there is no way he has four grandmothers!"

Lily did remember all the deaths, and more. "Two of his grandfathers also died," she added.

"You two remember things way too easily," Amber quipped.

"There is obviously some other reason," Jade said. "Maybe he's just not ready to talk about it yet." She exchanged a dark glance with Lily.

Both girls had figured out what Remus' problem was. Lily had found out in third year when she had had a crush on Remus and his brother had already died twice. Then, later she had overheard Sirius and James talking about what a shame it was that Remus didn't have a brother who they could play Quidditch with. After minimal research, she had figured out that his disappearances every month coincided with the full moon.

Jade found out in her fifth year when she decided to intercept all James's letters to see if he was writing to Sirius about her. Instead, he had written to Remus about a new potion the Ministry of Magic was attempting to create which could minimize the effects of his transformations. Jade had asked her father about it, and he had explained the basics of the potion to her.

As far as either girl new, Amber had no idea about Remus' condition, which Lily thought was the reason he didn't want a relationship.

Amber nodded. "Maybe. I don't even care though. As long as I'm with him," she floated off, a dreamy look in her eyes.

Jade chuckled. "Shall we hop out and get our room sorted before potions?" She asked.

"Lead the way!" Lily replied.

James skirted around Lily during the weeks following the prank, taking care not to anger her in any way. In fact, he had become positively annoying. Even so, Lily couldn't deny that she was enjoying it a little bit. She was proud of herself for taking the high road and not completely hexing him into the next century. His grovelling more than made up for it.

"Sausage Lily?" he asked kindly at breakfast the week before Halloween.

"No, thank you," Lily replied.

James smiled at her, and turned back to Caroline, who was telling him a story about one of her numerous vacations. His normally tanned skin was a deathly white, and the circles around his eyes had become more prominent. Lily tore her eyes away from James, and concentrated on Jade, who seemed rather bubbly that morning.

"So Lily, are you in?" she asked.

"For what?"

"Haven't you been listening to what I've been saying?" Jade sighed. "There is a great party in Hogsmeade this weekend. It's a costume party. You in?"

Lily couldn't think of a good reason to say 'no'. Jade would not take Head Girl duties as an excuse. She sighed. "I suppose. As long as you make my costume!"

Jade practically gushed. "It's going to be great! What do you want to go as? Cat? Devil? Angel? How about you Amber?" she asked.

Amber just stared. "Do I have to go?" she asked.

"Yes, you must." Jade lowered her voice. "If Remus is going to be stupid like this, you can find another guy."

"But I don't want another guy," Amber blushed.

"Then pretend you do," Jade replied. Seeing Sirius get up from the other end of the table, she made her excuses and followed him out of the hall.

"Are they _still_ snogging each other?" Amber asked Lily. "You'd think the two of them would have moved on by now."

Lily agreed. Both Jade and Sirius were notorious for snogging the opposite sex and then leaving them a week later for a new candidate. However, they had been continuing their 'relationship' since the beginning of the year as far as Lily knew. It was entirely possible that they had been together through the summer, as Sirius had moved in with James. Jade's house was right beside James's and they had grown up as childhood friends.

The two girls got up from the table, and started off to their Muggle Studies class.

"We are going as modern versions of Muggle fairy tales," Jade announced to Lily and Amber. "I've done my research. Lily, you are going as the Little Mermaid; Amber as Cinderella, and me as Princess Jasmine."

"The Little Mermaid doesn't even wear clothing!" Lily protested.

"Come on Lily. James told me you had a 'rockin' bod'! I wouldn't worry about it."

Lily scowled at her raven haired friend. "Just how much do you two share?"

Jade snickered. "Wouldn't you like to know? Anyway, these are the plans I have for your costumes." She began, conjuring three blackboards into the air. "Amber, your dress is this blue one. Instead of making it so poufy, I'm going to slim it down so it's more like an evening gown. You can wear my pearl earrings and necklace." She offered generously.

"But Jade! Those are very expensive!" Amber protested.

"Nonsense. You're wearing them!" Jade said in a tone that left no more room for argument. She whipped her head around to look at Lily. "There is not much I have to do with your costume Lily, but here are the basics. You'll be wearing a purple bikini top shaped like seashells. I'm going to make you a green skirt and add some green fabric to your shoes to make it look like you have fins. Your skirt is going to hug your legs all the way down to your ankles."

Lily nodded, not in the mood to argue. She could hardly see herself being able to walk in a tight skirt and high heels. Jade prattled on about plans for the party as Lily drifted off.

She was worried about James. Not that she cared or anything, of course. But he was looking sickly and that made her worry in case they had any Muggle Studies projects due. Lily had to admit that he had kept up on his half of the work. He always came to her for suggestions or to add on to their ideas about their project. But if he continued doing whatever he was doing to make himself so sick, Lily was worried she would have to pick up the slack. She was taking advanced Transfiguration, Potions, Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Arithmancy, and of course the extra-curricular Muggle Studies course. There was no way she could pick up his slack if he got sick. He had become increasingly white, to the point where he resembled a very hungry vampire. The shadows under his eyes had become more prominent, and he seemed to have lost a lot of weight. Jade didn't hesitate to point this out to James at Quidditch practice, and he insisted he was merely under the weather.

Still, Lily noticed that ever since Caroline had arrived, James had been getting steadily sicker. He was probably staying out too late with her. And deviating from his Head Boy duties. This put Lily in a sour mood. How could he just throw away such responsibility? She made a mental note to bring it up with him the next day.

"I know that look," Jade said, pointing at Lily's face, which was screwed up into a grimace.

"It's the James Potter look," Amber giggled. "How becoming."

Lily scowled at her friends. "Very funny."

"What did he do this time Lily?" Jade teased. "Didn't polish his Head Boy badge?"

Lily didn't want her friends to know that she had been worrying about James. "Something like that," she replied.

"You know Lils, I've been meaning to talk to you about that," Jade began. "I know that you HATE Jamesie boy, but I would really like you and Amber to come to Godric's Hollow to spend Christmas with me and my family. Maybe you could cut him some slack?" Jade asked.

Lily considered. "If he's good, I'll be good," she replied.

Jade sighed, knowing it was the best she could get. Hopefully the two could bond over the break. She shook her head to clear that thought. As if. Resigned, she went back to planning her friends' costumes.


End file.
